V. — Notes on Corals of the genus Acropora (Madrepora 

 Lam.) avith new Descriptions and Figures of Types, and 



OF SEVERAL NeW SpECIES. 

 / 



By a. E. Verrill. 



Many clianges in the nomenclature of this great and difficult genus 

 have recently been made, especially in the extensive descriptive 

 catalogue by Brook. But in consequence of the new determinations 

 of many of the species by him, and of his redescriptions of a number 

 of the types of Ehrenberg, Edw. and Haime, Quelch, and others, it 

 has become veiy desirable to compare the types of Dana and other 

 American writers with his new descriptions. 



It is certain that there is still great confusion among writers on 

 corals as to the character and limits of many of the species of this 

 genus, and especially as to the application of the names given by 

 Lamarck, Ehrenberg, and other early writers to some of the species. 



Such Laraarckian names as laxa, ahrotanoides, corymbosa, and 

 others have each been a^iplied to a dozen or more species, by as many 

 different writers. 



This is due partly to the total lack of figures of many of the 

 older tj'pes, and partly to the very short and imperfect descriptions. 

 Brook has done great service by redescribing in detail many of these 

 original types, in the museums of Berlin, Paris, and the British 

 Museum. But if he could have figured them, his work would have 

 been of much greater value. 



Now that photographs of corals can be so easily and cheaply 

 reproduced, it is to be hoped that all the extant types will soon be 

 illustrated. 



At this time,- owing to the lack of funds for the purpose, I am 

 able to give figures of onh'^ a few of the types in our museum, but I 

 hope that more work of this kind can be done at no distant time. 



In this article I have undertaken to redescribe only a few selected 

 out of the whole number of Dana's types that are in the Yale 

 Museum,* selecting those in respect to which European writers have 

 made the most mistakes, and those which Dana did not figui'e. I 



* The principal set of Dana's types is in the U. S. Nat. Mtisenm. Those have 

 been enumerated by Mr. R. Rathbun, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns., x, 1887. But he 

 did not redescribe them. 



