Cliap. XX.] 



DEVELOPMENT OF FUNGIA. 



455 



specimen,* consisted of a portion of a very large dead Fungia, 

 to which were attached all over numerous nurse stocks in 

 various stages of growth. Some of those in the specimens 

 have only just developed from the attached larva, and have as 

 yet thrown off no buds. A small cup-like Coral is formed, 

 and as it grows the mouth of the cup widens and assumes 

 somewhat the form of the adult disc-shaped free Coral, but is 

 still distinctly cup-shaped. A line of separation forms in the 

 stem of this bud, and the bud falls off ; a fresh bud then starts 

 from the centre of the scar left by it on the stock, and the 

 process is repeated. The fresh bud in its growth does not 

 spread its attachment over the whole surface of the old scar, 

 the margins of which persist as a dead zone around its base. 



The line of separation of the second bud does not cor- 

 respond with that of the first, but is beyond it a short distance. 



DIAGRAM REPRESENTING A NURSE 

 STOCK OF THE MUSHROOM CORAL. 



a b Successive joints of the stem which 

 have each thrown off a free discoid 

 coral ; li young mushroom coral still 

 attached to the last joint of the stock ; 

 c a transverse line marking where 

 the present bud will separate. 



ENLARGED VIEW OF THE SCAR LEFT 

 ON THE END OF THE STOCK WHEN 

 A YOUNG CORAL HAS BECOME DE- 

 TACHED. 



E Fresh discoid coral commencing to 

 bud forth ; e wide surrounding scar 

 surface. 



Hence, the nurse stem, which has thrown off several buds, is 

 transversely jointed in appearance. Some of the stems in the 

 specimen I found, showed thus three rings. Stutchbury im- 

 agined that each mother stock threw off only one bud, and then 

 died. Semper showed that this was not the case ; he speaks of 

 three or four generations only being produced by each stock. 

 Apparently the number produced is very limited. None of 

 the stocks in my specimens were branched. A young Coral 

 bud just ripe, i^th of an inch in diameter, dropped off one of 

 the stocks as I lifted the specimen from the water. Beneath it, 

 on the scar, another very small young Fiingia had begun to 

 * G. Stutchbury, " An Account of the Mode of Growth of Young Corals 

 of the Genus Fungia.' Trans. Linn. ScC-, Vol. XVII., 1830, p. 493- 



