REPORT ON CORALS—DEEP-SEA MADREPORARIA. 203 
Station 192, off the Ki Islands. Lat. 5°42° S., long. 13-2° 25’ E. 129 fathoms. 
Three specimens, 
Station 209, off Zebu, Philippine Islands. Lat. 18° 10’ N., long. 123° 55’ E. 95 
fathoms. Several specimens. 
NoTEs ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE Sort TissuEs or Stephanophyllia formosissim«a. 
When decalcified the coral yields a plump tough mass corresponding exactly in shape 
with that of the hardened coral before the removal of the calcareous support. A con- 
tinuous layer of soft tissue does not, as in the case of Bathyactis symmetrica, separate 
off from the inferior surface of the coral, and hang loose unattached to the structures 
above it. The whole is compact and elastic, and returns to its original form after com- 
pression. It may be cut in any direction without falling to pieces. The inferior surface 
of the decalcified mass presents a radiate structure closely corresponding in appearance to 
that seen on the under surface of the corallum. Five ridges of soft tissue radiate out 
from the centre, increasing in number by division, with regularity at definite distances 
from it, and gradually becoming thicker towards the margin of the coral. These ridges 
of tissue occupy in the recent coral the intervals between the costa, and thus correspond 
in position with the septa. The inferior edges of the mesenteries correspond in position 
with the costee. 
The ridges of soft tissue lying in the intercostal grooves of the corallum are connected 
together by series of transverse trabecular prolongations of the mesoderm which, passing 
through the perforations in the base of the corallum lying on either side of the inferior 
edges of the septa (Pl. XVI. fig. 5), join the bases of the mesenteries where these lie 
above the coste. Thus, by means of this series of trabecule of soft tissue, the various 
complex ramifications of the general mass are held together, and hence the compactness 
and elasticity of the whole decalcified coral, as opposed to the loose and disconnected 
condition of that of such a form as Bathyactis symmetrica. Masses of contorted 
trabecular mesoderm are developed throughout the coral corresponding in position with 
the ramifications of the porous corallum, and a large spongy mass of this nature remains 
behind after decalcification in the place of the columella. 
The appearance presented by the decalcified coral, when laid open by a vertical 
incision, is shown in figure 9, Plate XVI. A short simple alimentary tube leads to a 
wider cavity bounded by the free borders of the mesenteries with their attached 
filaments. The mesenteries of the most inferior order spring from the upper body-wall of 
the coral (corresponding with the membrane forming the disc in Flabellum) near its 
margin, and thence are stretched to join the basal soft structures and columella. These 
mesenteries are very narrow, and their free border is only very slightly curved. The 
mesenteries of successively higher orders are broader and broader, have a longer stretch 
