MADREPORA. 189 



C. Corallum flabellate, subhorizontal, vnth the tubular and proliferous 

 corallites chiefly on the upper surface. 



204. Madrepora granulosa. 



Madrepora granulosa, M.-Edwards «& Haime, Coralliaires, t. iii. p. 156 ; ? Duncan, Ann. Mag. N. H. 

 1884, vol. xiv. p. 197. 



Corallum forming flat fronds about 40 cm. broad and 24 cm. high. Branches 6 to 12 mm. 

 diameter, fused into a network with square or elongate open meshes ; no free lateral branches 

 excepting an occasional elongate, tapering, tubular corallite in the plane of the frond, and 

 almost without aperture. Posterior surface without corallites, apparently smooth, but in 

 reality clothed with very closely arranged series of small plate-like echinulations ; thickness 

 from back of frond to apex of branchlets about 4 cm. The anterior surface of the fused 

 branches is covered with immersed or subimmersed swollen corallites, the more prominent of 

 which are nariform and give a serrate outline to the margin of the branches, recalling the 

 form of an ear of corn. From the anterior surface of this network a large number of 

 branchlets project at right angles or nearly so, but some arise at a narrower angle and are 

 then bent outwards; length about 3-5 cm., nearly all reach the same plane. Some are 

 simple and a little over 4 mm. in diameter, others are thicker and divided into three or four 

 twigs. The axial corallites are elongate, tubular, 2"5 mm. diameter and frequently 6 mm. 

 long, margin rounded, aperture small. The radial corallites are swollen nariform, with a 

 small aperture, at first appearing as inconspicuous dilatations of the coenenchyma, but ulti- 

 mately attaining a diameter of 2 mm., with the outer part of the wall 3 mm. long. Septa of 

 the axial corallites in two cycles, the second of which is not well developed. In the radial 

 corallites the primary septa are subequal, and the second cycle often wanting. Corallum 

 very dense ; surface clothed with closely arranged plate-like or knobbed echinulations. 



The above description is based on the type in the Paris Museum. A specimen in the 

 collection of the British Museum consists of a half-saucer-shaped frond 30 cm. across from a 

 rounded base. The erect branchlets on the upper surface are rarely over 2'5 cm. long, and the 

 diameter of the axial corallites is usually 2 mm. The subdivisions of these branchlets are little 

 spreading, and in this respect differ from those of M. speciosa, M. confraga, and M. rambleri, 

 which have a similar habit. The wall of the tubular corallites is finely striate and echinulate. 



Indo-Pacific Ocean : R6union, ? Mergui Archipelago, Louisiade Archipelago. 



a. Coralhaven, Louisiade Archipelago, 13 fath. J. Macgillivray, Esq. [P.]. 51. 9. 29. 39. 



205. Madrepora ramhleri. (Plate XXIX. fig. F,); 



Madrepora rambleri, Bassett-Smith, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1890, vol. vi. p. 455. 



Madrepora fragilis, Bassett-Smith, loc. cit. p. 455. 



? Madrepora longieyathus, Studer {non M.-Edw. & H.), MB. Akad. "Wiss. Berlin, 1878, p. 531. 



Corallum prostrate, fan-shaped, from a lateral or shortly pedicellate base, resembling 



2 c 



