MADREPOEA. 121 



feWj nearly naked, and appressed into the plane of the frond, and bear numerous immersed or 

 subimmersed corallites. Branchlets of the upper surface terete, subulate, subacute, 4 to 6*5 

 cm. long and 5 or 6 mm. thick, gradually tapering. Axial corallites 1'5 to 2 mm. broad, 

 rarely over 1 mm. exsert. Radial corallites usually labellate, but often spreading, short, or 

 scarcely prominent, 1*5 to 2 mm. diameter, rarely over 1*5 mm. long, wall thin, striato- 

 echinulate ; those of the marginal branches more spreading and somewhat larger. The 

 corallites become shorter below, and many have a moderately thick ligulate border ; at the 

 base they are often all immersed or subimmersed. Surface echinulate. Star not very 

 distinct; the directive septa thick and prominent, but the others delicate and often 

 rudimentary. 



The species resembles M. convexa, but differs in the much less coalescent and not flattened 

 branches, the more elongate, slender, and acuminate branchlets, and the radial corallites are 

 shorter and less spreading, and the star is not so conspicuous. 



East Indies ; Singapore ; New Guinea. 



a. Singapore. Dr. Schneider [P.]. 78. 6. 6. 3. 



? b. ? Mrs. J. P. G. Smith [P.]. 4-5. 6. 6. Q7. 



c. ? ? 93. 4. 7. 123. 



119. Madrepora spathulata. (Plate XXXII. fig. B.) 



Madrepora spathulata. Brook, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1891, vol. viii. p. 469. 



Corallum prostrate, complanate below. Branches 1-5 em. thick, flattened on the under 

 surface, with numerous immersed and short nariform corallites, and a few spreading tubular 

 ones between ; branchlets in the general plane with one or several tubular corallites near the 

 apex, often 5 mm. long and 2 mm. thick. Branches on the upper surface arcuate, 7 era. long, 

 and usually consisting of two branches fused together, so as to be somewhat oval in section, 

 diameter 1-8 by 1 cm. ; each division is about 1 cm. thick up to within 1 cm. of the apex and 

 then becomes divided into two or four branchlets, most of which are again imperfectly divided 

 into two ; apices blunt. Axial corallites 2 to 2'5 mm. thick, scarcely exsert ; wall thick and 

 very porous ; aperture usually small, but sometimes funnel-shaped. Radial corallites crowded, 

 spreading at right angles, 2 mm. broad and 2 mm. long in the upper parts, chiefly spathulate, 

 with a rounded lip which is sometimes recurved ; at a lower level the wall is a little thickened 

 and not so prominent, and at the base of the branchlets the corallites are all subimmersed or 

 immersed, with an aperture of nearly 1 mm., but the cells occurring in lines of fusion are 

 smaller. Star indistinct, only the directive septa recognizable. Corallum very porous; 

 surface reticulate and echinulate ; wall fragile, striato-reticulate, becoming echinulate later. 



Solomon Islands. 



a. Treasury Island, Solomon Islands. Dr. Guppy [P.]. 84.12.11.25. (Type.) 



