RED SEA AND EGYPTIAN PORITES. 237 
broken and interrupted edges slope deep down into the calicle. Spikes or thin plates rise 
some way down, and form a large open ring, 9 to 12 in number, but these are not the typical 
pali, because the septa reach a large reticular columellar tangle, and do not appear to fuse at 
all in the typical manner. This ring probably corresponds to the septal granules. From the 
large, close, columellar tangle a minute central point frequently arises. The interseptal loculi 
form a neat symmetrical ring of small oval apertures, penetrating deeply into the corallum. 
In sections the trabecule are irregularly stout and crowded ; they tend to thicken, so that 
the inner parts of the stock are very dense. The colour is bluish-grey or yellowish-brown. 
But in taking the stocks out of the water, their upper parts appear violet or reddish 
(Klunzinger). 
The living polyp passes from grey to yellow, with short, conical, yellow-brown tentacles, 
slightly lighter at the tips. In the upper parts of the stock the polyps are often more violet, 
with colourless tentacles. The mouth is slightly protuberant. 
The above details as to the living polyp are taken from Dr. Klunzinger’s text; the 
description of the fine details of the skeleton is based upon an examination of one of 
Dr. Klunzinger’s original specimens which was acquired by the British Museum. The most 
remarkable point on this specimen is the primitive arrangement of the septa as so many 
separate lamelle joining the large columellar tangle without fusing. 
Dr. Klunzinger believes that this is the same coral as was mentioned by Forskal * in 1775 
as var. a of his Madrepora solida, because on account of its toughness and abundance it is 
largely used for building purposes along the shores of the Red Sea, a fact which Forskal called 
attention to. Dr. Klunzinger suggests that Forskil’s var. 6 is probably re-discovered in the 
coral which he has called “ P. lutea” (see next heading). Further, as Dr. Klunzinger was 
able to examine Ehrenberg’sf originals, there can be no doubt that, as he states, this is the 
same form as that writer called Madrepora porites conglomerata, although there is no special 
reason to believe that this was the same as Esper’s ¢ M. conglomerata. 
The name solida was also applied to an Atlantic-American form by Dr. Verrill.§ 
Dr. Ortmann || extended it to cover a form from Mauritius, which may eventually prove to be 
of the same species, but the evidence of mere resemblance is not sufficient in such variable 
forms as the stony corals. 
Lastly, Dr. Rehberg J gave the name “ solidus ” to a form from Zanzibar (see p. 229). 
The specimen in the National Collection from which the figure is taken is a low, stunted 
column rising into nodules, the central and largest of which is flat-topped. 
There is a specimen of this coral in the Paris Museum also obtained from Dr. Klunzinger, 
and carefully studied by the present writer, who finds in his notes that it somewhat resembles 
the next, which Dr. Klunzinger called Porites lutea. 
a. From Dr. Klunzinger. Zool. Dept. 86. 10. 5, 12. 
* Descriptio animalium, p. 131. + Korallenthiere, 1834, p. 117. 
t Esper described two M. conglomerate ; the first was a Goniopora, the second a true Porites, but 
without recorded locality. § Trans. Conn. Acad. i. 1868, p. 358. 
|| Zool. Jahrb. (Syst.) ili. 1888, p. 157. § Abh. Naturw. Verein Hamb. xii. 1892, p. 48. 
