162 



EUPSAMMID^.. 



Genus Leptopenus, Moseley. 



Leptopenus discus (?), Moseley. 



LeptopenuH disciis, Moseley, " Challenger " Reports, vol. ii., pp. 205-8, 

 pi. xiv., figs. 1-4; pi. xvi., figs. 1-7. 



A number of coral fragments placed in my hands by Dr. 

 Verco and by Messrs. Hedley and Petterd belong certainly 

 to the above remarkable genus, but their identification with 

 the species named must be regarded as provisional. Though 

 there is not a single perfect example present, every segment 

 shows the lace-like pattern of the septa, costas, and wall, which 

 is characteristic of the genus. The majority of the fragments 

 represent from one-fourth to one-sixth of the whole disc, 

 which has been broken radially from the centre to the cir- 

 cumference, and in the line of either the free primary or 

 secondary septa. The bifurcation of the predominant ter- 

 tiaries is conspicuous in every fragment, whether large or 

 small. The only noticeable difference between Moseley's ex- 

 amples and the Australian ones is in the length of the cos- 

 tal spines. In the former they are long, but in the latter 

 quite short. 



The segments show a coral somewhat smaller than Mose- 

 ley's species and about 15 mm. in diameter. The extreme 

 diameter of the "Challenger" examples is given as 25 mm., in- 

 cluding, of course, the long spines. 



Possibly the Australian coral niav be new, but this can 

 only he decided by an examination of entire specimens. 



In all 24 fragments were dredged, viz., by Dr. Verco, off 

 Cape Jaffa, at 90 fathoms ; off BeachjDort, from 100 to 200 

 fathoms, and 35 miles S.W. of Neptune Island, at 104 

 fathoms. Messrs. Hedley and Petterd dredged a few segments 

 of the same coral 20 miles from Port Jackson, at a depth of 250 

 fathoms. The examples described by Moseley were all 

 found in the Southern Hemisphere, but at much greater 

 depths, viz., from 1,600 to 1,950 fathoms. The nearest local- 

 ity is in the Southern Indian Ocean, lat. 46"^ 16' S., long. 48° 

 27' E. 



Genus Notophyllia, Dennant. 



This genus, founded in 1899 to receive three species of 

 tertiary fossils, is, I now find, represented also by a recent 

 coral in which the generic characters are well marked. The 

 close connection, to which attention has before been called, 

 between the Australian corals of the present day and those 

 found fossil in adjacent tertiary beds is thereby again strong- 

 Iv illustrated. 



