MALAYAN PORITES. 179 
179. Porites China Sea (1916. (P. Sinensis sextadecima.) 
(Pl. XXVII. fig. 6; Pl. XXXV. fig. 16.) 
[Tizard Bank, Sand Kay, 3 feet, coll. Bassett-Smith ; British Museum. | 
Syn. “ Porites tenuis Verrill” Bassett-Smith, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 6°, vi. (1890) p. 456. 
Deseription.—The corallum rises into thick short columns, with nearly vertical sides, 
irregularly fluted near the top. The uppermost surface rises into low mounds, corresponding 
with the flutings. The living layer extends irregularly as far as 5 cm. downwards. 
The calicles average 1 mm. in diameter. The walls appear thick, but everywhere with a 
low, sharp median ridge, consisting of thin trabeculz lightly joined together. This rises upon 
a coarse, flaky reticulum, which is often regular, that is with a row of pores on each side 
of the median ridge. The septa project from the sides as frosted points, which increase in 
length gradually down towards the base of the fossa. Their meetings can, as a rule, only be 
made out in the shallower lateral calicles. There are no visible pali, and the centre of the 
large fossa is filled with an irregular reticulum from which granules arise, among which pali 
and columellar tubercle can at times be vaguely made out. 
In section the trabecule appear stout. The colour is a bright yellow fawn. 
There is no good section exposed; the single specimen is complete. It may be 
closely related to the next specimen, which is from the same locality. The growth-form and 
the absence of pali are points of resemblance, but on the other hand the calicles are so unlike 
that we have to describe the specimens separately. 
2 Zool. Dept. 89. 9. 24. 77. 
180. Porites China Sea qg9 17. (LP. Sinensis septimadecima.) 
(Pl. XXVII. fig. 7; Pl. XXXV. fig. 18.) 
[Tizard Bank, Sand Kay, 3 feet, coll. Bassett-Smith ; British Museum. | 
Description—The corallum rises as a smooth, slightly swollen and irregular knob on 
a short thick stalk. The living layer extends 5-6 cm. downwards. 
The calicles are superficial or only faintly pitted, averaging 1 mm. in diameter. The 
walls are broad and flat, and composed of an ill-defined, close, flaky reticulum, with small 
pores, and with the edges of the flakes making the surface look scurfy. The septa appear as 
broad tongues of these flakes with roughened or jagged edges; they may be at different 
levels and slope gradually with the fossa. Seen from above the septal formula is complete, 
but there are only traces of pali. The base of the fossa appears to be occupied by a large oval 
tubercle reaching to the height of the septa. 
This coral bears some resemblance in its growth-form to the last, and also in the size of 
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