ASTR^OPORA. 79 



(pi. E 2, fig. 4) being given of A. myriophlhalma. Dana's suggestion that this last species 

 was the same as A. pulvinaria was rejected. 



The absence of the columella, which is so conspicuous in the Turbinaricc, was recognised 

 by these authors, for the first time, as the distingiusliing feature of AstrcEojma, and led to the 

 suggestion, now fully justified, that Astrceopora stellulata, which possesses a columella, really 

 belonged to TurUnaria. This reduced the known species of Astrceopora to four, viz. 

 A. pulvinaria, A. myriophthalma, A. punctifera and A. pulvinaria, Dana, since recognised as 

 new, viz. A. profunda, Verrill. 



In 1877, Briiggemann,* in describing some new Stony Corals in the National Collection, 

 established a new species, Astrwopora cxpansa, which is the last recorded addition to the 



genus. 



In 1879, Dr. Klunzinger,t placing the genus with TurUnaria in the family TurUnarida:, 

 described a species from the Red Sea which he identified with Lamarck's A. myriophthalma. 

 A specimen of this coral came into the possession of the Natural History Museum, and is here 

 identified as a new species {A. Ehrenlcrgi). Dr. Klunzinger further identified Ehrenberg's % 

 subgenus Phyllopora with Astrceopora ; Ehrenberg's two species, P. leptostoma and P. sphmro- 

 stoma, being two varieties of Klunzinger's (not Lamarck's) A. myriophthalma. 



In 1886, Quelch, in his report on the Reef Corals of the ' Challenger ' Expedition, identified 

 the single specimen of the Aslra:opora contained in the collection as VerrHl's A. profuiula. 



At the time of my undertaking to catalogue the Collection in the National Museum, it 

 had been recently enriched by specimens from Tongatabu, collected by J. J. Lister, and from 

 the coasts of Australia, collected by Mr. Saville-Kent. There were in all only thirty 

 specimens, eighteen of which were unnamed. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE GENUS. 



The first buds appear very early, grouped closely round the parent poljrp of the 

 colony. The first small disc-like stock thus formed is contained in a common saucer-like 

 epilheca. Budding appears to continue wherever there is space, i. e. round the edge, or 

 between any two existing ealicles. I have found no direct connection, apart from the canal 

 system traversing the ccenenchyma, between the buds and their parent polyps. The buds 

 appear anywhere on the surface of the ccenenchyma as slight indentations, almost exactly half- 

 way between two existing polyps, and it is impossible to say that they belong more to the one 

 than to the other. There is thus no detiuite system of budding, and in this respect, the genus 

 Astraxpora differs from both TurUnaria and Madrcpora, in which specialised methods of 

 budding lead to branching, or cup- or leaf-like stocks. 



* Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. (4) xix. p. 416. 

 ■f Korallenthiere des rothen Meeres, Th. II. p. 52. 



% Beitrage z. Kcnnt. d. Corallenthiero d, rothen Mccrcs, 1830; Genus Ixx. Madrepora, 

 p. 114. 



