CA R YOPUYLLIA CEA . 
EUPSAMMIAD^. 
THE SCAELET AND GOLD STAR-COKAL. 
BalanophylUa regia. 
Plate X. Firjs. 10, 11. 
Specific Character. Corallum sub-conical, circular : epitheca extending 
to margin : plates in five imperfect cycles, 
Balanophijllia reyia. Gosse, Dev. Coast, 399; pi. xxvi. figs. 1 — 6. 
Ibid. Man. Mar. Zool. i. 83 ; fig. 61, 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 
CORALLUM. 
Corallum. Conico-cylindrical, rising like the trunk of a tree from a base 
much broader than the column ; height rarely exceeding, often not equal- 
ling, the diameter. 
Calice. Circular or nearly so: varying much in depth. 
Wall. Rather thick, porous, but scarcely spongy, invested with an 
epitheca, which in general extends to the margin, but not always, and occa- 
sionally (as in a specimen in my possession) seems wholly wanting. 
Ribs. Continuous (not formed of separate granules) but very sinuous, 
and in some parts branching, the branches so confluent as to form a rough 
network : they are often distinct through the epitheca. 
Columella. Much developed, forming a large spongiose mass (or more 
like the crumb of well-raised bread), often rising almost to the level of the 
margin, but more commonly to about half that height. 
Plates. Well developed, thick, here and there perforate, with a frosted 
surface and minutely toothed edges, not salient, the upper edge sloping 
downwai’d and inward. The star is six-rayed, and is always distinctly 
formed, and generally symmetrical. There are five cycles, but some of 
the fourth and fifth are wanting in each system. The gradation in deve- 
lopment is pretty regular downward from the first to the fourth ; but the 
fifth are exceedingly irregular and unequal. The two plates of the fifth 
cycle in each system, which stand next to the primaries (that is, those of 
the sixth order*), are developed to an extent much exceeding even the 
* Hist, des Corail. i. 45. 
