THE ANTHOZOA 



71 



and a comparatively compact structure, the septa being aporose 

 and the theca and coenenchyme traversed by a sparse canal system. 

 The distinctness of the section Fungacea may also be called into 

 question. The characteristic of the group is the presence of 

 synapticula, which are transverse calcareous bars uniting adjacent 

 septa. But such transverse bars are to be found in many corals 

 not included among the Fungacea, e.g. in Stefhanophjlliaformoaissima, 

 Mich., and in some other Eupsammidae. Fungia, the type of the 

 Fungacea, is regarded by some a\ithors as a perforate coral ; but 

 it must not be forgotten that in its young state it is aporose, 

 and has all the characters of a typical Turbinolid, synapticula 

 being developed only as 

 the lip of the calyx ex- 

 pands to form the char- 

 acteristic fungiform disc. 

 This indicates a close re- 

 lationship between the 

 Fungidae and the Tur- 

 binolidae. On the other 

 hand, thePlesioporitidae, 

 now included amongst 

 the Fungacea, are per- 

 forate corals, and if the 

 divisions Aporosa and 

 Perforata are of any 

 value, they are clearly 

 out of place. The fol- 

 lowing classification, 

 then, is to be regarded 

 as provisional and likely 



to be supplanted at no distant date by an entirely new arrange- 

 ment. The sub-section Scleractiniae is very rich in genera and 

 species ; Duncan enumerates 343 genera, without taking account 

 of the Rugosa. In this place only the more important and familiar 

 genera will be cited, and the reader in search of further details 

 is referred to, Duncan (19), Quelch (86), Moseley (82), and to the 

 British Museum Catalogues of Madreporaria by Brook (12) and 

 Bernard (13). 



[Since this article was written and in proof the work of Dr. 

 Maria Ogilvie has been published. As a result of an extensive 

 study of the microscopic characters of recent and extinct corals 

 she divides the Scleractineae into two sections — Zaphrenioidea or 

 Ilaploplirada and Ci/athophi/Uoidea or Pollaplophrada. The first 

 section is divided into the sub-sections Coencmhyinata (families 

 Poritidae, Madreporidae, Focilloporidae, Oculinidae) and Murocorallia 

 (families Zaphrentidae, Turbinolidae, Amphiastraeidae, Stijlinklae). 



24 



Fig. XXXIII. 



Cj/athophylliim hcxagonum, Goldfuss, from the Devonian 

 chalk of Gerolstein. Nat. size (from Zittel's Grumhuye der 

 I'alaeontologie). 



