162 MADREPORARIA 
The specimen from Ceylon (see P. Ceylon 16), which had been called P. punctata by 
Ridley, is more like Esper’s figure than any other form in the National Collection, but there 
is little chance of their being closely related owing to the great distances apart of their 
localities. 
PHILIPPINES. 
158. Porites Philippines @)1. (P. Philippina prima.) (Pl. XXV. fig. 5.) 
[‘Sooloo Sea,” coll. Wilkes Expedition, 1838-42; coll. H.MLS. ‘Challenger’ * ; 
British Museum. } 
Syn. Porites palmata, et nigrescens var. mucronata Dana, Zooph. (1848) p. 558, pl. liv. figs. 2, 3, 3a. 
Porites palmata Quelch, Chall. Rep. xvi. (1886) p. 180. 
Description—The corallum grows into large tufts rising upon a thick central stalk by 
repeated dichotomous forking, the latter occurring about every 2 cm. The stems and branchlets 
are compressed and frequently fuse into flabellate plates running out into short conical or 
blunt digitiform processes. The living layer only extends some 6-7 cm. down the branches 
of the tuft ; the lower dead portions have been repeatedly thickened by the downward creeping 
of the edges, the thickness near the base of a living branch being from 1°5-2 cm. The widths 
of the flabellate plates depend upon the number of stems which have fused together. 
The calicles are superficial, but distinct, on an average slightly over 1 mm.ft in 
diameter. The walls are built of rather thin, smooth, horizontal flakes with median ridges 
composed of the separate tips of the trabecule in various stages of expansion into a fresh layer 
of flakes. These median ridges are conspicuous over all the upper parts of the stems, but 
gradually disappear near their bases, where the walls consist of horizontal flakes with scattered 
granules. The septa are tongues of these flakes, often thin, and sufficiently divided as to show 
some traces of radial symmetry. The usual formula can frequently be made out, and the five 
principal pali form an open ring of small granules round the fossa. This, except when very 
deep and open, is shallow, being soon filled by a flaky columellar tangle upon which an 
irregular granule represents a central tubercle. 
The section shows a very loose reticulum of large oval meshes arranged horizontally. 
The trabecule are feebly developed and seldom in pronounced radial arrangement. The 
horizontal elements are far better developed, but they are thin and wavy, and seldom form 
well-defined continuous layers. 
This is the description of the large Zamboangan specimen collected by H.MLS. ‘ Challenger,’ 
and identified by Mr. Quelech with Dana’s P. palmata. WDana’s description might in every 
* Zamboanga. 
t+ Mr. Quelch describes the calicles as from 1-2-5 mm. across. This is hardly a correct 
description of the fact that there are a few double calicles visible, 
