POLYNESIAN GONIOPOR^. 41 



support from the almost total absence of iutercalicular budding and the shallowness of the 

 calicles, points which are inconsistent with rapid continuous growth in thickness, but just 

 what one would expect of a thin, explanate, incrusting stock. It has been suggested to 

 me by Mr. Pace that such a growth might be due to periodical changes in the direction of the 

 current. One side is killed, perhaps by the silting up of mud or sand, while the other thrives. 

 When the current turns, the thriving part dies down, and the former dead part is grown over 

 by a fresh layer. 



The points to be noted in this coral are (1) the very large shallow calicles ; (2) the low, 

 rounded reticular walls, with no trace of septa running across them ; (3) the large prominent 

 columella with its irregular group of paliform granules ; (4) the conspicuous ring of 24 

 narrow interseptal loculi ; (5) the scarcity of the iutercalicular budding ; (6) the coarseness of 

 the whole of the surface texture. 



a. Zool. Dept. 84. 11. 21. 26. 



7. Goniopora Solomon Islands (4)4. 



[Bougainville Island, coll. German Corvette ' Gazelle ' ; Berlin Museum.] 



" Goniopm-a pedmiculata, Q. Ik, G.," Studer, M.B. Akad. Berlin (1878) p. 524. 



There is, unfortunately, no description of this coral. Prof. Studer, in identifying it with 

 Quoy and Gairaard's coral from Great Geelvink Bay (sec G. New Guinea 1), was doubtless 

 guided by apparent similarity of growth-form. As stated above, it appears to me that we 

 shall have to collect on the same spot in Great Geelvink Bay before we really know what 

 the original " G. pcduncnlata " was. This same remark applies also to Briiggemann's and 

 Mr. Quelch's identifications. See G. Great Barrier Beef 9 and G. Bhilippines 4, pp. 55 and 70. 



8. Goniopora Queen Charlotte Islands (dI. 



[Vanikoro, Queen Charlotte Islands,* coll. Voyage de ' 1' Astrolabe ' ; Paris Museum.] 



Astrcea viridis, Q. & G., Voyage de ' 1' Astrolabe,' Zooph., iv. (1834) p. 204, pi. 16, figs. 1-3. 



Astroitis riridis, Dana, Zooph. (1848), p. 406. 



Goniopora riridis (partim), M.-E. & H., Ann. des Sci. Nat. (3") xvi. (1851) p. 40. 



Descrip)tion. — Corallum round or oval, like the swollen end of a short thick column, 

 about the size of the fist. The calicles are large, " about 4 mm., polygonal, deep, conical, 

 with vertical, very rough walls." The septa are " equal, denticulate," and " do not reach the 

 base of the fossa " (the figure of the longitudinal section shows them meeting across the fossa). 



The polyps project about 12 mm., are cylindrical, with both longitudinal and transverse 

 furrows, protuberant mouth with " numerous " tentacles ; in the original figure there are 

 48 of the latter, alternately larger and smaller; in the text they are said to be "somewhat 

 irregular." The polyps are a bluish-grey colour, with green tentacles, and they can retract 

 completely into their calicles. 



* I prefer the old name, there being many Santa Cruz Islands. 



