^1. E. Vei'riU — Bermxidian and Wes^t Indian Beef Corals. 121 



The septa are strong, thickest toward the columelhi, \vher» they 

 bear large, stout, angular, acute teeth, often irregular and united by 

 their bases. Small thin septa usually alternate with the larger ones, 

 and have long, thin, sharp teeth. There are usually about five 

 larger and four smaller septa to a centimeter. The columella is 

 small and composed of many slender processes in some of the calicles, 

 and of fewer, stouter ones in others. The costse are thick, not much 

 elevated, roughly spinulose, with small acute spines. 



This specimen is quite different from most, in appearance, owing 

 to the great size, shallowness, and regularity of its calicles, but it 

 seems to be simply a specimen that has delayed its secondary divi- 

 sions longer than usual, so that its calicles have grown broader. 



A few examples of this species have very shallow calicles, the 

 inner surface of the cup being nearly flat, but in other respects they 

 agree with the ordinary forms. 



Two or more specimens, crowded when j^oung, may graft them- 

 selves together and later form a solid coral similar to the normal 

 ones, but usually somewhat more irregular. 



Abnormal specimens, owing to injuries or disease, may have the 

 septa very much thickened and often hollow, and' their spines may 

 be hollow, swollen, or even bulbous at the tips, S. verrucosa D, 

 and M. was evidently based on a specimen of this kind. 



Our largest perfect specimens are 1.50 to 200°^'" (six to eight inches) 

 in diameter, but larger and less perfect ones were often seen, perhaps 

 the largest w^ere 10 inches across. 



This species is found from Bermuda and the Florida Reefs, south- 

 ward, thioughout all the West Indies. 



Isophyilia fragilis (Dana) Yer. Eose Coral. Lettuce Coral. 



Mnssa fragilis Daiia, Zoopli. Expl. Exp., p. 185, pi. viii, fig. 9, 1846. 

 Isophyilia fragilis Verrill. in Dana, Coral Islands, ed. 2, p. 380, 1874, ed. 



3, p. 424, 1890. Quelch, Voy. Chall., Zool., xvi, p. 84. 

 Si/mphyUia Giiadulpensis Edw. and Haime, Ami. Sci. Nat., xi, p. 256, 



1849 ; Hist. Coral!., ii, p. 373, 1857. (Young.) 

 Isophyilia Guadulpensis Ponrtales, Deep Sea Corals, p. 71, 1871. 

 Symphyllia ? strigosa + ? S. anemone + ? S.marginata Duch.. and Mich., Corall. 

 Antill., pp. 70, 72, pi. x, fig. 16, 1860. (Indeterminable from the descrip- 

 tions.) 



Plate XYI. Figukes 1, 2. Plate XVII. Figures 1-7. 



Plate XYIII. Figure 1. Plate XIX. Figures 1, 4, 5. 



This species, which is about as common as dipsacea at Bermuda, 

 and lives with it, can best be distinguished from the latter by the 

 thin, lacerate-toothed, very unecjual principal septa, Avhich are not 



