AUSTRALIAN PORITES. 117 
Between the ridges and points the surface is quite smooth. The living layer is 5°5 cm. deep, 
and the edges show only a slight tendency to bend outwards. 
The calicles are seen scattered about, sometimes crowded, sometimes distant, as minute 
reddish or orange-coloured* specks, slightly raised above the smooth pale-pink surface, their 
outlines not easily defined. They are not confined to the valleys, but occur over the whole 
surface, even on the ridges. The septa are small, flat, triangular flakes or thick threads, which 
slope gradually upwards, forming a rampart round the minute pin-hole fossa. The tips of these 
septa are frosted and irregular, but they can be seen to}fuse in pairs, and V-shaped pali are 
produced. Rings of these pali form neat round bosses, rising above the surface. The inter- 
septal loculi run freely into the gyrating fissures of the smooth ccenenchyma, which, under 
the lens, is seen to consist either of flakes, with finely frosted edges, or of frosted threads. 
This form is entirely different from the three specimens just described. Not only are the 
ealicles dissimilar, but their cenenchymatous specialisations are also quite different. 
a. Zool. Dept. 92. 12. 1. 279. 
104. Porites Great Barrier Reef (49)11, (P. Queenslandi@ undecima.) 
(Pl. XV. fig. 2; Pl. XIX. fig. 8.) 
[Palm Island, coll. W. Saville-Kent ; British Museum. | 
Description.—The corallum rises in thin, flattened, slightly bent stems, which are greatly 
flattened, and fuse into leaves. The stems fork irregularly. The upper edges of the leaves are 
only slightly notched. The stems and leaves are about 6-8 cm. thick, from 1-4°5 cm, 
broad, and about 4 cm. free above the common basal stem. The depth of the living layer is 
unknown, at least 6 cm.f 
The calicles are large, 1‘5 mm., shallow but conspicuous, on account of the ring furrow 
separating the walls from the pali, which themselves surround a fossa visible to the naked eye. 
The walls consist of a single (sometimes double) rather irregular row of separated glassy, 
knobbed or frosted granules, which rise above solid-looking flakes. The septa project as broad, 
irregular flakes, which meet and fuse in the typical way. Large septal granules may rise 
near the wall. The pali form a conspicuous ring of frosted knobs, showing both formule 
(B and ©, fig. 3). They rise as high as the wall. The fossa is conspicuous from its size; 
there is generally a central tubercle. The interseptal loculi are narrow, but often run night 
up to and in between the wall granules into the next calicle. The texture of the coral is 
* Which show black on the photograph, Pl. XIX. fig. 7. 
{ Mr. Pace informs me that a Porites something like this forms great staghorn-shaped masses, 
4-5 ft. high, where the reefs dip down steeply. Palm Island is far from the Torres Strait, where 
Mr. Pace collected, and it is doubtful whether the two corals are of the same kind. 
