94 MADREPORARIA. 
branchlets are thin, cylindrical, and swollen at the tips, which are blunt and angular. The 
larger stems are about 1 cm. thick. 
The calicles are 1°3 mm. in diameter, very shallow everywhere, and quite superficial near 
the bases of the stems. The walls, where they rise at all above the surface, are thin ridges. 
The septa are very thin and obscure, the pali being still less clear, but, though not prominent, 
some six to eight are traceable. Both septa and pali are more pronounced in the lateral 
calicles. The fossa is moderately deep, with an occasional minute central tubercle, 
The above is the essence of Briiggemann’s description. The observations which follow it 
were written obviously in the belief that branching Porites are very rare. The claim that the 
nearest related form is the branching P. conglomerata of Esper will not hold, for that coral, as 
already noted, was a Goniopora (see p. 3). 
Whether the Porites in the Hamburg Museum from the Union Islands mentioned by 
Rehberg (see above, p. 32) is the same form is very doubtful; it may be remarked that 
Briiggemann did not himself compare his coral with Dana’s P. cylindrica. 
A Porites from Samoa said to be like this coral is in the Museum at Bern (see p. 33). 
75. Porites Caroline Islands 2, (P. Carolina secunda.) 
[Ponapé, coll. Museum Godeffroy ; 2 ] 
Syn. Porites tumida Briiggemann, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, v. (1879) p. 211. 
Description.—The corallum forms a dense cluster of stems rising from a small base. The 
stems are very crowded and fused below, only forking very irregularly and incompletely. In 
their upward growth they are alternately greatly swollen and then constricted; for the most 
part they give off short, rounded, almost globular twigs. The uppermost branchlets are either 
swollen and blunt, or else slightly tapered (this variation in the form of the twigs is to be 
correlated with the alternate swellings and constrictions of the stems). Stocks may rise to a 
height of 20 cm. and more. 
The calicles are slightly over 1 mm. in diameter, uniform in size, and polygonal. The walls 
are raised as thin sharp ridges. The septa are thin, and appear from the description to form 
the typical formula, Six narrow pointed pali are fairly prominent. The fossa is deep, and the 
central tubercle is always present, but somewhat deep down. 
This is the essence of the original description, and, as its author stated, the singular growth- 
form of the specimen (cf. P. Mauritius 4 and North Australia 6), should make it easy to 
re-discover, when the same region is explored for the purpose. 
76. Porites Caroline Islands (43, (P. Carolina tertia.) (Pl. IX. fig. 5; Pl. XIL. figs. 1, 2, 3.] 
[Ponapé, coll. Mus. Godeffroy (?); British Museum. ] 
Description.—The corallum rises into thick, irregular, flame-like columns from an 
encrusting base, which dies away and completely disappears in older stocks, although there is 
