West-Indian Species of Madrepora. 25 



specimen appears to me only a M. cervicornis in which the 

 branches are numerous and mainly in one plane. 



In regard to the three other intermediate forms, my diffi- 

 culty is to understand why Brook assigned them to the 

 palmata- cervicornis group. I had the privilege of examining 

 them in conjunction with Mr. H. M. Bernard, who agreed 

 as to the improbability of their specific identification. There 

 is no evidence that the corals came from the West Indies, 

 and from the characters of the specimens this source seems 

 unlikely. 



The second specimen is 93. 4. 7. 22, and its locality is 

 unknown. It is apparently the young basal portion of a 

 corallum, and is, perhaps, too immature for specific identifica- 

 tion. It is 120 millim. long by 100 millim. wide, and its 

 surface bears three rows of subcorneal elevations. On the 

 middle row one process has grown upwards into a branch 

 30 millim. wide by 25 millim. thick, rising 55 millim. from 

 the bottom of the furrow between the rows and rising 35 millim. 

 above the slit which separates the branch from the adjacent 

 subcorneal elevation. In one of the outside rows there is a 

 lower branch, 45 millim. long by 30 millim. thick by 32 millim. 

 high. In these characters I fail to see anything to ally the 

 specimen to either M. palmata or M. cervicornis. The coral- 

 lum agrees more nearly with Brook's description of that of 

 M. con ig era *. 



The third specimen is no. 93. 4. 7. 23, and its locality is 

 also unknown. It is divided almost to the bottom into 

 branches which if broken into fragments would be indistin- 

 guishable from those of M. cervicornis, as they would be from 

 several Pacific species. But the corallum is reticular and its 

 general aspect is not that of cervicornis, much less of palmata. 

 It appears to me to be more like M. brevicollis f, though I do 

 not care to venture an attempt at a specific identification of 

 any Indo-Pacific Madrepore. 



The fourth specimen (93. 4. 7. $5, locality unknown) is 

 labelled in Mr. Brook's handwriting " M. muricata?" The 

 note of interrogation seems amply justified, unless that species 

 be accepted in its original Linnean sense for Indian Ocean 

 muricated Madreporce. The specimen consists of thick, 

 flat, basal lobes, whence arise short thick branches, which 

 divide into a crowded and irregular series of branchlets. If I 

 had to give the specimen a name I should feel tempted to call 

 it a short-branched form of the corals which Brook has iden- 

 tified as M. Ehrenbergi%, 



* Brook, op. cit. p. 34. 



t Brook, op. cit. p. 159, pi. xxvii. figs. A, B. 



% Edwards & Haime, Hist. nat. Cor. vol. iii. p. 143 ; Brook, op. cit 

 p. 48. 



