86 MADEEPOEARIA. 



Madrepora appersa, M.-Ed wards <fe Haimo, Corailliares, t. iii. p. 156; ?Studer, Mitth. naturf. Ges. 



Bern, 1880, p. 20. 

 Madrepora ammviis, Brook, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1892, vol. x. p. 452. 



Corallum prostrate ; horizontal branches coalescing into a plate which is nearly entire, 

 flattened and naked helow; above, branchlets erect, crowded, spiciform, nearly terete, 6*2 to 

 7'5 cm. long and 6 mm. thick. Axial corallites a little prominent ; the radial ones crowded 

 and equal, 3 mm. long, appressed and subimbricate, rostrato-nariform, very minutely striate ; 

 star very distinct. [Dana.) 



The * Challenger ' specimen referred to M. appressa appears to agree with Dana's species, 

 but is not that recorded by Ehrenberg ; the following is a short description of it : — Corallum 

 corymbose, not pedicellate, flattened above ; the branches horizontal, coalescing into a plate 

 with numerous irregular corallites with pore-like aperture; length 5 mm., diameter 1*5 mm., 

 usually applied to the surface throughout the whole length. Branchlets on the upper surface 

 ascending, subterete, 6 to 7 cm. long and 6 to 8 mm. thick ; apices about 1*4 cm. apart. 

 Axial corallites 2 mm. diameter, and about 1 mm. exsert. Radial corallites ascending and 

 crowded, subequal, beaked-nariform or compressed-tubular, with an oblique aperture ; length 

 4 mm., diameter 1"2 by 1'4 to 1'8 mm., those below are short and a little dilated, becoming 

 finally immersed. Star very well developed, but a second cycle of septa is only found in the 

 shorter radial corallites towards the base of the branchlets, rarely in the axial corallites. 

 Corallum moderately porous, surface compact and echinulate in linear series ; wall striate and 

 echinulate near the base. 



East Indies. 



a. Amboina. H.M.S. 'Challenger.' 85. 2. 1. 7. (Type=M. appressa, Quelch.) 



b. Amboina. H.M.S. ' Penguin.' 92. 4. 5. 1. 

 ?c. Solomon Islands. Dr. Guppy [C.]. 84. 12. 11. 20. 



78. Madrepora cymbicyathus. 

 Madrepora cerealis, Ortmann (won Dana), Zool. JB. 1888, Bd. iii. p. 152. 



Corallum corymbose, 12 cm. high and 24 cm. broad. Middle branches 5 to 5-5 cm. long, 

 1*2 cm. thick at the base, somewhat angular below, centres about I'o cm. apart. Marginal 

 branches oblique, with short horizontal outer divisions and numerous tubular corallites. The 

 central branches are simple or divided near the base into three or four subparallel branchlets, 

 rarely proliferous excepting near the margin of the corallum. Axial corallites 2*5 mm. 

 diameter, 2 mm. exsert; wall rather thick and dense, margin a little rounded. Radial 

 corallites elongate, spreading, and rather crowded, often arranged in rows near the apex of a 

 branch, 3 to 4 mm. long and 2 mm. thick. They are frequently tubular with a narrow slit in 

 the inner side, extending nearly the whole length of the corallites ; in other cases where the 

 slit is wider they are shaped like a canoe. The wall is a little thickened, with the margin 

 rounded. The corallites on the distal parts of the branches are subequal, with a few scarcely 

 apparent immersed ones between ; nearer the base they are hooked-nariform, more appressed, 

 with immersed corallites between. A few proliferous corallites occur on some of the branches. 



