29 



Straits species, one is driven to the inference that Dana did not 

 succeed in obsei'vino; these corals in their iiilly expanded state. 

 One species more particularly, and which seems to be identical 

 with the Fun ff if/ crassitentaculatn described by Quoy andGaimard, 

 presents, as shown by the photogi'aphs talcen, a most luxurant 

 development of the tentacular elements, and is not unlike, 

 in general aspect, though not in colour, the large so-called 

 Dahlia anemone, Bunodes crassicornis, of the British seas. The 

 tentacles, however, of this mushroom coral, in their fully extended 

 condition, are relatively larger than in the foregoing species, and 

 vary in colour from a brilliant grass green to a bronze green, or 

 dark brown hue, with distinctly inflated whitish or pale yellow tips. 

 Other species of Fungice observed, exhibited similar structural 

 phenomena, though the tentacles, w^hile conspicuously developed, 

 were of somewhat less relative dimensions than observed of 

 F. crassifentactdata. Several interesting illustrations of the char- 

 acteristic stalked condition of the young Funrjice^ are included 

 among the photographs taken. In some instances these are 

 attached to coral branches of various species, M'hilc in one 

 instance, as many as ten individuals are crowded together on the 

 disk of their defunct parent, and from which they apparently 

 arose by a process of gemmation. At an early date, the stalks 

 by which the young individuals are uttaclied become ruptured 

 and they henceforward lie freely on the sea bottom, after the 

 manner of their parents. 



Another group of corals, which is alnmdantly represented at 

 Thursday Island, is the genus FuphjiU'u . The expanded poly2:)s 

 in this genus are exceedingly beautiful (ibjects, being surmounted 

 by jarge tufts of cylindrical tentacles, the extremities of which 

 are knobbed or inflated, and of a distinct colour. Much variation 

 in tint exists among separate clusters of these corals. In one 

 species, EuplujJlin (/labrcscr/n, the tentacles vary from a rich 

 seal-brown to dark myrtle-green, the rounded tips being white, 

 blue-grey, or golden yellow. Jn a smaller form, apparently 

 Etiphyllia rufjosa, the tentacles are more commonly slate-grey or 

 lilac, and the rounded tips a brilliant emerald green. An 



