73 



very different from the deep brick-red usual in this species, 

 may perhaps be due to the manner of drying." The height 

 of a 8j)ecimen in the Madi-as Museum from Tuticorin, where 

 the pale and brick-red varieties were living side by side, is 

 4 feet 8 inches, and the maximum diameter 2 feet 2 inches. 



The specimens of Gorgonia miniacea were characterised 

 by the almost constant presence, on the stems or at their 

 bifurcation, of diseased excrescences — the so-called galls — 

 occupied by a Cirrhiped crustacean, and perforated by an 

 orifice, through which currents of water for the respiration 

 of the crustacean were admitted into the cavity of the ex- 

 crescence, through which the stream passed in a constant 

 direction. The association of similar excrescences on stony 

 corals of the genera Sidcrojiora. Seriatoijora, and Pocillopora^ 

 is discussed in detail by Semper.^ 



Several fragments of Corallum nobile, the red coral of 

 commerce, have been picked up by me on the Pamban beach, 

 and the native divers tell me that they occasionally come 

 across much larger pieces. Concerning this species Ridley 

 says ^ : — 



"Dr. Lankester (Uses of Animals to Man), besides the 

 Persian Grulf, gives Cej^lon as a locality for this, the precious 

 red coral of the Mediterranean and Cape Verd Islands, and Dr. 

 Ondaatje has shown me decorticated specimens from Ceylon, 

 which make the identity of the species probable. It is note- 

 worthy that a fossil form is recorded from Indian deposits 

 (Duncan), which as I have given reasons for thinking (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc, 1882, p. 334) seems probably identified with this 

 species, Seguenza having found it fossil in India, still bearing 

 a slight red tint. ' An officer,' in a work entitled ' Ceylon ' 

 (London, 8vo., 1876) mentions small fragments of red coral 

 similar to that of the Mediterranean as having been found at 

 the water's edge between Galle and Colombo, and states it to 

 have been referred to by the Portuguese." 



It must be borne in mind, however, that the red coral 

 of commerce is imported to the East in large quantities to be 

 worked up into ornaments for natives ; and it is possible 

 that the small fragments, picked up from time to time on 

 the beach, may be only adventitious products, and not a 

 natural product of the neighbouring sea. 



' "Animal Life." Internal. Scicrice Ser., vol. XXXI. 

 2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. XI, 1883. 



K 



