156 MADREPORARIA. 
mode of branching, by the less crowded, more unequal radial corallites, which are also of 
greater diameter and are not compressed. 
Pacific Ocean: Darnley Island and Great-Barrier Reef. 
a. Darnley Island. J. B. Jukes, Esq. [P.]. 46. 7. 30. 34. 
b-d. Wreck Bay, Great-Barrier Reef. J.B. Jukes, Esq. [P.]. 46.7. 30. 18, 20 & 23. \ypes. 
é. 7 W. H. Ince, Esq. [P.]. 82. 11. 16.2. (Var.) 
f. Low Woody Island. Saville-Kent Coll. 92. 6. 8. 124. 
165. Madrepora plantaginea. 
/ 
Madrevora plantaginea, Lamarck (non Dana), Hist. Anim. sans Vert. t. ii. p. 279 (part.), ed. 2, p. 447; 
Blainyille, Manuel d’Actin. p. 390; ? Quoy et Gaimard, Voyage de l’Astrolabe, Zool. t. iv. p. 234, 
pl. xix. fig. 3; M.-Edwards & Haime, Coralliaires, t. iii. p. 149; Verrill, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 
1864, vol. i. p. 42; Ortmann, Zool. JB. 1888, Bd. iii. p. 151; ibid. 1859, Bd. iv. p. 504 (non 
Dana, Zoophytes, p. 459 ; non Briiggemann, Phil. Trans. vol. clxvili. 1879, p. 575; non Studer, 
MB. Akad, Wiss. Berlin, 1878, p. 530; non Studer, Mitth. naturf. Ges. Bern, 1880, p. 19; non 
é Quelch, ‘ Challenger’ Reef Corals, p. 153). 
Madrepora variabilis, Ortmann, Zool. JB. 1888, Bd. ii. p. 152 (part.). 
A number of specimens which form part of Lamarck’s collection in the Paris Museum 
are labelled Madrepora plantaginea, but are referable to at least three species. One is 
undoubtedly M. /ava, and agrees with the type specimen, and another perhaps belongs 
to M. retusa, Dana. The one which I have selected for description appears to be that 
described by Milne-Edwards. 
Corallum cespitose, about 17 em. broad and 12cm. high. Branches simple or subdivided, 
up to 7 cm. long and about 1-4 em. thick. The majority of the radial corallites are short ; 
but many are thick, tubular, spreading at almost right angles, the more important of which 
become proliferous and form short spreading branchlets. The terminal 1 to 15 cm. of a 
branch often differs from the lower part in the absence of these proliferous corallites, and the 
radial ones are more appressed. Axial corallites 4 to 5 mm. diameter, and about 3 mm. 
exsert ; wall thick, margin rounded, aperture about 1 mm. Proliferous tubular corallites and 
branchlets 3 to 13 mm. long, 2 to 4 mm. diameter or more, with rather thick wall. Radial 
corallites 1°5 mm. diameter ; wall rather thin, 2 to 3 mm. long; they are appressed tubular 
above, but soon become shorter, and many are almost immersed at a point 2 cm. from the 
apex, but still with the prominent proliferous corallites between them. The septa of the 
axial corallites are in two cycles, both rather narrow; in the radial corallites there are also 
two cycles, but the directive septa are more prominent. Corallum porous ; surface spongy- 
echinulate ; wall substriate or echinulate in irregular longitudinal rows. 
Two other specimens, which are possibly referable to the same species, have fewer and 
shorter spreading proliferous corallites, and thus the branches have a more regular 
appearance. The radial corallites are mostly short, with the inner part of the wall thin and 
rudimentary, the outer part thickened a little, and the margin rounded. Certain corallites, 
