ON THE PIGMENTS OF CERTAIN CORALS, 
WITH A NOTE ON THE PIGMENT OF AN ASTEROID. 
By C. A. MacMunn, M.A., M.D., ete. 
(With Fig. 34.) 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
1. Coenopsammia willeyr . : : : : 3 < 184 
2. . nigrescens ; : : 186 
3. Dendrophyllia ramea . 5 186 
4. Heliopora coerulea ; : 188 
5. Remarks on the Coral Pigments : é - : : . 189 
6. Integumental Pigment of a Red Asteroid (Ophidiaster cylindricus) . : : : : 189 
1. COENOPSAMMIA WILLEYI (from Hulule)!. [Fig. 34.] 
WHEN coarsely powdered and extracted with absolute alcohol and let stand for 24 hours, 
or longer, a greenish-yellow solution was obtained, which had a red fluorescence, 
Alcohol extract 
of dried coral. and showed the spectrum of a 
Fig. 34. I. 
seen—in the green. Ether extracts the same 
1 [For description of the species see Willey’s Zoological 
Results, Part 1v. pp. 357 et seq. (1900). I have examined by 
sections the polyps of both species of Coenopsammia and the 
species of Dendrophyllia, whose pigments are reported upon 
in this paper. They have no commensal algae, such as are 
found in most reef corals, and I have been unable to find any 
algal matter in their coelentera. The specimens sent to 
Dr MacMunn consisted of the dried coralla with the animal 
part still remaining on the same. In some cases the corallum 
chlorophylloid substance in solution, but no 
lipochrome bands. The bands in this alcohol solution read :—Ist, X674 to 1635, 
2nd a faint band, X»619 to 27595. Traces of 
two other bands nearer the violet were also 
colouring matter from the dried coral. 
had been stained slightly by the diffusion of the pigment, 
which is situated in the external ectoderm alone. 
Coenopsammia willeyi grows for the most part on the 
under-surfaces of the masses of the boulder zone, wherever 
there is a free circulation of water and no sand. Only one 
colony was found in Minikoi, but the species is fairly 
numerous throughout the Maldives in suitable positions. The 
colour when alive is a light, uniform, rather iridescent 
brick-red. Ep.] 
