AUSTKALIAN GONIOPOR^E. 55 



22. Goniopora Great Barrier Reef (i2)8. (I'l. III. fig. '•"' ; I'l. XI. fig. 13.) 

 [Exact locality not given, coll. W. Saville-Kent ; British Museum.] 



Dcscnption. — Corallum is an irregularly flattened cushion shape, with sides tending to 

 bulge and overhang. Lower edges creep under, close up to the base of attachment. 



The calicles are polygonal and subcircular, deep and very irregular in size, from 2-2 • 5 

 mm. (double calicles, 4-5 mm.). Walls stout, but not thick, very fenestrated, built of rows 

 of thick nodulated trabecul?e, and with very ragged, denticulate edges which, seen from 

 above, are crossed by septal plates in single rows without radial symmetry, but set at all 

 angles, some being bent, others forking and fusing together (fig. 3). These irregular septal 

 plates give no clue as to the number of the septa. Six primaries are prominent as rows 

 of thick, rough, granular projections. These descend into the calicles without forming pali 

 (except in the lateral calicles). The secondaries are rudimentary, while the tertiaries are 

 only present in faint traces. In the latei'al calicles, which appear slightly larger and 

 shallower, a distinct rosette of very prominent rod-like pali is formed. It surrounds a large 

 fossa, the pali rising symmetrically near the walls, which are thicker and have two rows of 

 coarse irregular granules separated by a median furrow. In the calicles on the top the 

 columeUar tangle is deep down, and obscured. 



This coral seems to exemplify the pulvinate method of growth, but there is only one 

 slightly flat-topped mass with bulging overhanging sides, and buds are numerous, even among 

 the lateral calicles, which are not very shallow ; cf. the diagram G, Introduction, p. 24. In the 

 present case the most recent layer completely covers over the previous growths, so that the 

 resulting stock does not form the pile shown in the diagram, but a more evenly shaped mass. 



The special calicles are interesting for the fact that the septal plates which appear in the 

 wall have lost their radial symmetry, which is only partially recovered in the lateral calicles 

 (see Introduction, p. 19, on the tendency of the lateral calicles to return to (or retain) 



primitive characters). 



Zool. Dept. 92. 12. 1. 420. 



23. Goniopora Great Barrier Reef (i2)9. (PI. III. fig. 4.) 

 [South of "Wreck Bay," in the outer edge of the reef, coll. J. B. Jukes ; P.ritish Museum.] 



Descriiotion. — Corallum massive, with smooth round top, edges thin and partly free. 



Calicles polygonal, large up to 4 mm., open, deep. Walls thin, here smooth and mem- 

 branous, there fenestro,ted ; edges finely and irregularly denticulate, sometimes nearly straight, 

 at others irregularly zigzag. Thin septal ridges appear round the margin, and descend 

 straio-ht down as thin, very denticulate and perforate ridges, the primaries and the slightly less 

 developed secondaries cur\'iug round before joining the columeUar tangle. Tlie tertiaries are 



