ANATOMY OF THE MADRBPORAEIAN CORAL FtJNGIA. 299 



relations to the mesenteries and the coelenteron, as I shall 

 describe further on. It is important to notice that the theca 

 is formed, in the course of outward growth, from the fused 

 ends of contiguous septa, as is stated by G. von Koch 

 to be the case in the lateral thecae of other cup-shaped 

 Madreporaria. 



I shall use throughout the same terminology as Fowler in 

 in his admirable paper on "Coral Anatomy'^ (9); but since 

 the flattened form of Fungia makes it a little difficult to dis- 

 tinguish " base" from "basal disc" in a general description, 

 I shall make use of the terms "oral surface" and " aboral 

 surface," the former including the mouth and peristome, the 

 latter the theca and basal disc. 



Drawings of living Fungise have been given by Eschscholtz, 

 Quoy and Gaimard, and Dana. The first of these gives a 

 tolerably correct figure, but only four cycles of tentacles are 

 represented, the more peripheral cycles not being noticed. 

 Quoy and Gaimard (33) figure two species of Fungia under 

 the name of Fongies k grosses tentacules (Fungia 

 crassitentaculata). These are remarkable for the great 

 length of the tentacles, which are represented as scattered 

 irregularly over the disc. Milne-Edwards and Haime, not 

 noticing the regular arrangement of the tentacles in Esch- 

 scholtz's figure, say : " Toute la partie superieure du corps de 

 Fauimal, correspondante a la partie lamellifere du polypier, est 

 garnie des tentacules epais qui ne sont pas groupes en forme de 

 couronne comme chez la plupart des Zoanthaires.^' Dana^s 

 figure of Fungia lacera in the 'Zoophytes of the Wilkes' 

 Exploring Expedition ' is reproduced in his book on ' Corals 

 and Coral Islands,' and he says in the latter work : " The ten- 

 tacles are scattered over the disc instead of being arranged in 

 regular circles. It is evident from the figure that the appa- 

 rent circles, where there is more than one, in Actiniae, arise 

 from the crowding of the series of tentacles together, and also 

 that the inner row of tentacles in polyps is the older. It will 

 be noticed also that each of the tentacles stands where a new 

 ridge or calcareous septum in the coral begins." Tl^at the 



