INDIAN OCEAN PORITES. 193 
No. 997 of Mr. Andrews’ Collection. 
[Southern Slope of the Island, altitude 350 feet.] 
Syn. Porites aff. lutea (pars) Gregory, 1. c. 
The same melting down of the whole skeleton walls and septa is seen here again. The 
fragment is greatly solidified and altered. 
The fragment has been cut in half, and there is a microscopic slide. 
c. Geol. Dept. R. 3743. 
Here also No. 853 appears to have a place. 
[Shore Plateau at top of Sea Cliff, North-east Point, altitude 40 feet.] 
Syn. Porites belli (pars) Gregory, l. c. fig. 7. 
The fossil shows the two methods of alteration which frequently occur—either persistent 
walls without intra-calicular skeleton, or with walls decayed and the intra-calicular skeleton 
persisting as a solid prism. Other portions again seem to be well preserved, and show a 
continuous network which involves walls and intra-calicular skeleton in a very remarkable 
manner. The interspaces within the coral seem to have been very large, for they appear large 
in the section in spite of the fact that all the skeletal elements seem to have been secondarily 
thickened, either as a result of fossilisation or perhaps in life as a protection against the 
ravages of theboring alga. Whatever these suggestions are worth, what we seem to have is a 
reticulum with very thick smoothly rounded skeletal elements, and with large interspaces. 
These arrange themselves into calicles 1°5 mm. across, and without, any traces of radial 
symmetry. 
As all these particulars are given in some hesitation as to whether I have interpreted facts 
correctly, I place the specimen here rather than in a division by itself, although the large size 
of the calicles would seem to warrant such separate treatment. There are four fragments and 
a microscopic section. 
d. Geol. Dept. R. 3728. 
195. Porites Christmas Island (48. (P. Natalis tertia.) 
[From Inland Cliff over West White Beach, North-west, altitude 260 feet (Pleistocene), 
coll. C. W. Andrews; British Museum. | 
Syn. Porites belli (pars) Gregory, 1. c. 
Description—The corallum is massive, the calicles about 1 mm. in diameter and angular. 
The walls appear in section as simple threads or membranes, nodulated, and occasionally 
interrupted by pores. The intra-calicular skeleton is too confused to be made out clearly ; 
it seems to be a loose, open reticulum within the thin, regular, smooth walls. 
bo 
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