82 MADREPORAKIA. 



lliickness from l*") in 2 nii. 'I'licy ihillcn slif,'litly before forkini;, iirid IIk; tiM-iiiinals havo 

 short rounded tips ahoiit ] cm. thick. T1i(iu,l;1i the stems approach closely to one another, they 

 show no tendency to I'u.se logetlier. The living layer is more than 11 cm. deep. 



Tile calicles ai'e superficial except at the extreme tips, where the walls rise as sharp 

 irregular zigzags. Elsewhere the wall is not very distinct, the septa starting right from its top 

 edge. These latter, as they start fnjni the wall, are very short, mostly free and slightly 

 knobbed, Ijut not so distinctly as to form a second ring of septal granules round the pali which 

 rise from a lower level. The ring of pali is compact, small, but very conspicuous ; it shows 

 the livi^ principals and a smaller directive palus noticed in the description given by Milne- 

 Edwards (Los Cor. iii. p. 175). The columellar tubercle is at a lower level than the pali as 

 the pali are at a lower level than the ])eripheral portions of the septa. The calicle is well 

 filled with skeletal elements showing no deep open cavities into the interior. Cross sections 

 even near the tips are compact. 



This description is founded upon notes made of the specimen, No. Z 182 e, in the Paris 

 Museum, which 1 take to be the original type of Lamarck's Pontes clavaria. That Lamarck 

 had a specimen and was not referring either to Solander's specimen (see p. 81), nor to Seba's 

 from Curaij'oa (see p. 30), we gather from the words " mon cabinet " ; certain indications lead 

 me also to think that tliis is the specimen wliich Milne-Edwards described, excepting that he 

 gave the thickness of the stems far too large. 



The locality of the " species " was given by Lamarck as Lcs mers d'Amiriquc et de I'lwJe. 

 But the label on this specimen says, " Antilles, coll. Lamarck." The Indian Ocean may have 

 been added to cover corals thought to be specifically identical. At any rate it is clear that 

 tiiis particular specimen is a West Indian form. The review of the Indo-Pacific Pontes, 

 given in Vol. V. of this Catalogue, showed no specimen whatever which we could unite with 

 it as even possibly of the same species. See the Historical Introduction, p. .3, on the way this 

 name clavaria has been used. The simj)le accident of its having been the first specimen 

 described, and described as a species in the first systematic work of importance dealing with 

 the corals, has given it a fictitious value, wliich it is to be hoped is unique in the annals of 

 systematic zoology. Whereas, beyond its description, all that can be said of it is that it 

 belongs to some local form, which has apparently not yet been re-discovered. 



68. Porites West Indies .-. 3. (/'. Americana ineertm sedis tcrtia.) (PI. XII. fig. 1.) 



(Paris Museum. J 



Syn. Pirriles furcuta Lamarck, Aiiiinau.v sans Vertebres, ii. (1816) p. 271. 



Porites furcata Milne-Edwards and Haime, Ann. Sci. Nat. (3") xvi. (1851) p. 21, pi. i. tigs. 1, 

 la, 16, Ic. 



Description. — The corallum rises into clusters of cylindrical stems, which fork or attempt 

 to fork, at distances of fnjm 1 • 5 to 2 cm. and at angles of about 90°. Diverging prongs tend 

 always to bend up into the vertical, and in the centres of dense clusters fusions become 



