93 



surface about one third defunct. In the marginal stretches, where the soft parts 

 have disappeared, a few young buds, most of whicli are stemmed. Diameter of 

 the disc of these buds up to 3 m.m. In the part of tiie under surface, which is 

 still covered with living tissue, there occur a large number o I buds in all stages 

 of development. The size ranges between 0.5 and 3.5 m.m. The stages represented 

 in the textfigures are also perceptible in many buds. 



N". Ö05. The upper surface as well as the under surface without livmg tissue. At 

 the margin some buds occur; the disc of the largest bud has a diameter of 

 7 m.m. On the under surface of the coral many young buds in different stages of 

 development. 



N'^. 517. This specimen happened to lie upside down. It had lost its living 

 tissue on both sides. On the aboral surface (now the upper surface) no buds had 

 formed, on the oral surface there are eight buds, some of which are already 

 stemmed. The diameter of the disc of these buds varies from 2.5 to 5.5 m.m. 



It appears from liie foregoing tliat the results are very diftereiit. 

 In some cases the destniclioii of part of the living tissues had an 

 influence only on the immediate vicinity, where the tissue was con- 

 sequently brought to greater activity. This appeared from the forma- 

 tion of new mouths lieside the old one which iiad got lost, and of 

 small septa between the new mouths and the defunct part. 



Owing to the experiment a smaller or a greater part of the 

 remaining living tissue of the Fnnyit had been destroyed. Tiiis 

 process began invariably at central parts of one or more septa, i.e. 

 beside the putty. When the central |)art of a septum has lost its 

 living tissue, this process progresses towards the periphery and 

 farther along the margin to the under surface of the coral. Of the 

 decaying tissue some isolated parts keep alive and buds issue from 

 them. At the margin of the mother coral these buds are small and 

 of a regular shape; they develop like buds of an anthocormus. 



Regarding the development of the skeleton a few remarks may 

 follow here. According to Bourne') the twelve first septa ofFungia 

 originate simultaneously, as is also the case with Astroides. In the 

 former, however, the six septa of the first cycle come first and then 

 those of the second. Since the development of the buds is so very 

 regular and the older stages are quite similar to those of the buds 

 of an anthocormus, it may be expected that the first stage of devel- 

 opment of the skeleton of the young Fungiae, which arise from 

 planulae, is similar to that of the youngest buds here described. 



Moreover the youngest stages of Fiingia patella described by 

 Gardiner') possess no more than six septa, while the older stages 



1) loc. cit. 



*) J. Stanley Gardiner, On the Posterabryonic Development of Gycloseris. 

 Willey's Zoological Results. Pt. II, 1899. 



