MALAYAN PORITES. 163 
respect apply to this coral, while Dana’s figure might represent a flabellate stem detached from 
such a stock. 
The same may be said also of Dana’s “ P. nigrescens var. mucronata,’ the specific 
identification of which with P. palmata was suggested by Milne-Edwards and Haime. Dana 
found the two growing together, the specimen of P. palmata being partly covered by the other. 
This description seems to imply that the growth was distorted by crowding. If so, it would 
be quite sufficient to account for any differences in growth-form and finer structure which 
might appear. The facts that both of them form flabellate branching stems, that in both the 
walls are built of flakes, and that they come from the same locality, are quite sufficient to 
justify their being put under one heading. 
a. Zool. Dept. 86. 12. 9. 298. 
The fragments from Amboyna, which Mr. Quelch joined with these as P. palmata, are 
built on the same essential plan, but the stems are thinner. There are no visible traces of 
flabellate formations ; the calicles are smaller, and the median ridges on the walls are taller, 
continuous and membranous. The skeletal elements are stouter, and the texture rougher. 
Compare Table III. for other branching Porites built up mainly of the horizontal skeletal 
elements. 
159. Porites Philippines @2. (P. Philippina secunda.) 
[Sooloo Sea, coll. Wilkes Expedition, 1838-42; 2 ] 
Syn. Porites erosw Dana, Zooph. (1848) p. 565, pl. lv. figs. 8, 8a. \ 
Porites ? erosa M.-K. & H., Ann. Sci. Nat. xvi. (1851) p. 34. 
Synarea erosa Verrill, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. i. (1864) p. 43. 
Description—The corallum is stout, erect, massive, columniform, truncate at summit, 
erose and deeply incised, lateral surface sparingly monticulose, and rarely subcarinate. It is 
alive for 6 cm. 
The calicles are superficial, distinct except at the apex, as a compact mosaic of large, 
square or triangular granules arranged in two rings, an outer septal ring, and an inner ring 
of pali. The wall granules are indistinct and sharply separated from those of the ealicle by 
a narrow circular trough. The interseptal loculi are also narrow and sharp. Six of these run 
between the often triangular pali into the minute fossa. 
This coral, of which there is unfortunately no specimen in the National Collection, is clearly 
one of the ccenenchymatous Porites, and the character of its calicles, together with its method 
of growth as shown in Dana’s figure, should make it easy to identify. 
160. Porites Philippines (68. (P. Philippina tertia.) 
[Mactan Islands, coll. H.M.S. ‘Challenger’; British Museum. | 
Syn. Porites lutea Queleh (non M.-E. & H.), Chall. Rep. xvi. (1886) p. 184. 
Deseription.—The corallum forms rounded or oval masses, adhering by a broad base to the 
substratum ; the lower edges may bend under or outward and creep over the substratum. 
¥ 2 
