20 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



green-and-brown, representative of the same genus, Mussa iiiuUilvbata, occupies a position a 

 little farther to the left. The coral of a dark hue and finely nodular structure, immediately to 

 tiie rear of the eroded Goniastrasa, is a golden-brown Porites belonging to that obtusely- branching 

 growth of which P.fiircata is a typical example. 



NO, 2.-L0PH0SERIS REEF, PORT DENISON, 



The name associated with this reef bears reference to the fact that its basal mass is 

 almost entirely composed of the foliaceous coralla of Lophoseris crisfata, which has not been 

 met with, in abundance, by the author, in any other part of the Barrier district. At first 

 sight, the frondiferous coralla of this species appear to be of a weak, brittle consistence, unfitted 

 to withstand the shock of the breakers or any other ungentle impact. As a matter of fact, the 

 substance of the coralla is so dense, and the constituent laminae coalesce with one another in such 

 manner, as to form a reticulate, cellular mass of such strength and rigidity that \valking upon it 

 with the heaviest boots makes no impression. This anastomosing growth-pattern of Lophoseris 

 cristata is most clearly shown, in the accompanying plate, in the almost totally submerged 

 corallum situated a little to the left of the centre of the immediate foreground. The general 

 colour of the living corallum of this characteristic species, of which an example is given in 

 Chromo plate No. VII., is usually light buff-white, the radiating calicinal centres and associated 

 polyps varying from pale primrose to bright emerald-green. There are two other species of 

 corals distinctly visible in this Port Denison, Stone Island, reef-view, that have not been asso- 

 ciated with any of those previously described. These include, to the extreme left, an irregu- 

 larly developed corallum of a Galaxea, near G. Esperi, to which reference is made, and a charac- 

 teristic illustration of a bleached corallum given in association with Plate I., Fig. 13. The 

 second species, Turbinaria cinerascens, may be recognised as forming convolute, thickl^'-tuber- 

 culated folia, immediately underneath the entire nearer border of the wide-spreading coralkun 

 of Madrepora convcxa that occupies the lower right-hand corner. This species, whose corallum 

 is of a golden-brown hue, with bright yellow polyps, is abundantly developed throughout the 

 Port Denison reefs. Coloured illustrations of this and other species of the same genus are 

 included in No. VIII. of the chromo-lithographic plates. The symmetrical rotundity of the 

 specimen of Goiiiastrma Grayi, perched on the growing mass of Lophoseris, is the onl_v remain- 

 ing salient feature that invites attention. For the type of artillery in vogue a century or so 

 ago it would have made an excellent cannon-ball. 



PLATE XI. 



WARRIOR ISLAND REEF, TORRES STRAIT. 



With this illustration begins the first of the series representing the typical Outer Barrier 

 region in contradistinction to the inshore or fringing reef series to which all the previous 



