220 A. E. Verrill— The Bermuda Islands; Coral Reefs. 
tentacles while living. It can live close to the surface and is often 
found in tide-pools of the shore ledges, as well as on the reefs. 
The star-like calicles are a little elevated, usually elliptical or oval, 
seldom circular, and quite variable in size, though usually not more 
than .25 to .30 inch in the longer diameter. 
In expansion the polyps rise up somewhat above the rims of the 
ealicles. The tentacles vary in number from about 30 to 50 or more, 
and form two or more crowded circles, the inner a little the larger ; 
in full extension they are slender with a rounded or knobbed whitish 
tip, but more often they are short, tapered, and blunt. The disk, in 
contraction, is rugose in radial lines, and may fold inward so as to 
entirely conceal the tentacles. Often there are two or more mouths 
on one disk, due to incipient fission. The disk is often convex and 
the mouth elevated in full expansion. 
Dr. Duerden (1902) has described and figured a series of the 
larvee, both before and after attachment, According to his observa- 
tions the polyps are hermaphrodite and viviparous. The larve fix 
themselves within a few days after extrusion. 
It is not very abundant at Bermuda. Common on the Florida 
Keys and throughout the West Indies. 
Mussa (Isophyllia) fragilis (Dana) Ver. Rose Coral. Figs. 76, 77, 78. Plate 
Sex, Ge did spl ee eld: 
Tsophyllia or Symphyllia fragilis of many writers. 
Isophyllia dipsacea Pourtales, in L. Agassiz, Florida Reefs, pl. vii, figs. 1-7. 
1880 (non Dana). 
Isophyllia fragilis Verrill, these Trans., xi, p. 121; plate xvi, figs. 1, 2; pl. 
xvii, figs. 1-7; pl. xviii, figs. 1, 6; pl. xix, figs. 1, 5, 1901. 
Mussa fragilis Dana; Verrill, op. cit., p. 180, 1901. 
Symphyllia anemone, S. conferta, S. strigosa, S. Agle, S. thomasiana, S. 
aspera, var., Duch. and Mich., Coral. Antilles, pp. 69-74, 1860. (Identifica- 
tions by photographs of original types in Mus. Turin made for Dr. T. W. 
Vaughan.) 
? Lithophyllia argemone Duch. and Mich., op. cit., p. 68, pl. x, fig. 15, 1860. 
(Young.) 
?Lithophyllia cubensis (non Haime) and L. lacera (non Pallas) Quelch, op. cit., 
1886. (Young.) 
Isophyllia strigosa, I. fragilis, I. australis, Quelch, op. cit., pp. 82-84, 1886. 
This handsome coral is very common at Bermuda, both on the 
reefs and close to the shores, where it may be attached to scattered 
rocks and ledges, even in very shallow water. It is also abundant 
in Harrington Sound. It lives best where exposed to strong light, 
in open waters. 
