REPORT ON THE REEF-CORALS. 131 
“The line of separation of the second bud does not correspond with that of the first, 
but is beyond it a short distance. Hence the nurse-stem which has thrown off several 
buds is transversely jointed in appearance. Some of the stems in the specimens I found 
showed thus three rings. Stutchbury imagined that each mother stock threw off only 
one bud and then died; Semper showed that this was not the case, he speaks of three or 
four generations only being produced by each stock. Apparently the number produced 
is very limited. None of the stocks in my specimens were branched. A young Coral bud 
just ripe, 14th of an inch in diameter, dropped off one of the stocks as I lifted the speci- 
men from the water. Beneath it, on the scar, another very small young Fungia had begun 
to bud out before its predecessor was quite free. The somewhat cup-shaped buds, when 
set free, become, by the direction in which future growth takes place, flat and dise-shaped 
and develop eggs, from which spring free-swimming larvee, which start fresh stocks. 
«The mass of nurse-stocks which I found was surrounded on the reef by a group of fully- 
formed Fungias of all sizes; I counted twenty in all. Some six of these were small and 
still showed the scar of attachment which disappears in the process of subsequent growth.” 
An essential part of the definition of Fungia is, that in the adult state the animals 
are simple forms; and normally this is the case. It very frequently happens, however, 
that specimens are found in which two or even three distinct mouths are present in the 
same specimen, and examples of this are found in the collection ; but a careful examina- 
tions shows that this arises from interrupted growth or injury, and must be looked upon 
as accidental and not normal to the genus. 
Professor Duncan has very thoroughly investigated the structure of the hard parts 
of Fungia and other allied genera, with especial reference to the structure and nature 
of the synapticulze, which were considered by Milne-Edwards and Haime to be structures 
analogous to extremely developed granules. 
These synapticulz, he concludes, “are not hypertrophied granulations, from which 
they differ in shape, position, and structure.”' 
Professor Duncan considers that they are 
independent structures, which by their fusion with one another and with the septa give 
rise to the basal wall. Thus, “it appears that synapticule are formed either prior to or 
simultaneously with the septum, for they and it contribute to the basal wall before the 
septum has increased much in height ;” “ they (¢.¢., synapticulz) increase beyond the 
normal dimensions towards the base, and unite in a homogeneous mass composing the 
basal wall ;”3 “ the section indicates that the wall is composed of more or less horizontal 
or curved synapticule, thicker than others, above.” * 
While it seems proved that these synapticulz are not hypertrophied granules, but 
structures independent of the granules, it seems to me that, instead of being independent 
structures which give rise to a basal wall, it is likely, if not more probable, that they are 
modified or specialised portions of the wall itself, which thus gives rise to synapticulz 
1 Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.), vol. xvii. p. 147. 2 Thid., p. 145. 3 Thid., p. 147. 4 Tbid., p. 144. 
