MADEEPORA. 66 



Form A. florida. 



a. ? ? 93.4. 7.61. 



b. Malacca. Capt. Belcher, R.N. [P.] . 42. 11. 28. 3. [Early stage.] 



Form B. confluens. 



a. Louisiade Archipelago. J. Macgillivray, Esq. [P.] . 51.9.29.32. 



b. ? Purchased. 56.2.18.21. 



c, d. ? ? 93. 4. 7. 62 & 63. 



?e,/. Tizard Bank, 2 fath. H.M.S. 'Rambler.' 89.9.24. 101 & 168. (= M. 



horrida, B.-Sm.) 



34. Madrepora tuberculosa. 



Madrepora tuherculosa, M.-Edwards & Haime, Coralliaires, t. iii. p. 135 ; Ortmaim, Zool. JB. 1888, 

 Bd. iii. p. 148; ?Faurot, Arch. Zool. Expe'r. t. vi. 1888, p. 119. 



Corallum consisting of tufts, the divisions of which are large, very short, proliferous, and 

 often forming tubercles rather than branches. Axial corallites tubular, with a thick wall, 

 little prominent, and 2*5 to 3 mm. diameter. Radial corallites of two kinds, the one com- 

 pletely immersed, the other tubif orm, 3 to 4 mm. long, and about 2 mm. diameter ; wall 

 reticulate and often subnariform. Coenenchyma reticulate, very porous. Diameter of the 

 terminal branches 1*5 cm. or more; of the main branches 4 to 5 cm. or more, at a distance 

 of 8 cm. from the apex. [M.-Edwards.) 



The position of this species is uncertain. The type specimen does not appear to be 

 preserved in the Paris Museum. 



The specimen from Fiji referred by Ortmann to this species has the following characters : — 

 Base incrusting; branches conical or blunt at the apex, \-7 to 7*5 cm. long and 2*5 cm. 

 diameter at the base, not including the proliferous corallites. Axial and proliferous corallites 

 3 to 3'5 mm. diameter; wall thick; margin sometimes slightly rounded. Radial corallites 

 tubular, 1"5 mm, diameter, not over 2 mm. long near the apex of a branch, a little ascending 

 at first and sometimes the inner part of the wall is not fully developed, but becoming longer, 

 proliferous, and more spreading lower down. A little below the apex the majority of the 

 corallites are immersed, with tubular proliferous ones between ; these are 3 to 6 mm. long and 

 3 to 5 mm. apart, but some attain a length of 2"5 cm. and are 1 cm. thick at the base. Bud- 

 corallites chiefly nariform, with the wall a little thickened, some are appressed tubular. The 

 star consists of 12 narrow septa, but the directives are rather broader in tubular corallites. 

 Corallum dense ; surface densely echinulate and reticulate ; wall striate and rough. 



This specimen may be correctly identified, but the definition of Milne-Edwards is too 

 incomplete to settle the question, and the species was not associated by him with M. florida. 

 Ortmann^s specimen comes very close to my M. listeri, var. conica. 



Indo-Pacific Ocean : Red Sea, ? Fiji. 



i2 



