PORITES FROM NO RECORDED LOCALITY. 113 



104. Porites x. 2. {Porites inccrtce scdis secunda.) 

 Syn. Madrepora poriUs Esper, Pflanzenth. i. (1789)* p. 135, pi. xxi. 



Description. — The corallum rises into tall, open, branching stocks. The stems are of 

 smooth, wavy outline of uneven thickness. The forking is irregular, but where most 

 abundant it is roughly dichotomous, at varying distances apart, and at very sharp angles which, 

 however, usually curve outwards so that the prongs diverge. Prior to forking the stems show 

 pear-like swellings with slight indentations to mark the beginning of division. The living 

 layer extends over the whole stock, some 14 cm. in height. 



The calicles appear from the original figure to have one very striking characteristic, viz. 

 the conspicuous rings of pali. The artist shows the whole surface granular, and the calicles 

 indicated by raised groups of pali with a columellar tubercle in the centre of each. The 

 intervening walls appear flat. 



The cross-section is shown with indications of conspicuous radial trabecule surrounding 

 a small axial strand, and it may be noted that such trabeculae would be in keeping with the 

 surface granules and pali. 



The colour is a yellowish brown. 



The locality of this form is given merely as the East Indian seas. Branching forms are 

 known, e.g. from Tonga Islands (Vol. V. p. 39), but they are certainly not as characteristic of 

 the Indo-Pacific region as they are of the West Indies. There ought to be no difficulty in 

 recognising the form again, with its remarkable development of pali and its swollen pear-like 

 terminals. 



105. Porites x. 3. {Porites incertce sedis tertia.) 



Syn. Madrepora porites var. /3 Esper, Pflanzenth. i. (1789)* p. 135, pi. xxiA. 



Description. — The corallum sends up from an extended base a crowd of tapering spikes, 

 from 6 to 8 cm. long, and of varying thicknesses from 2*5 to 1 cm., some smooth and simple, 

 others forking quite irregularly, the prongs curving away in different directions, without order 

 or symmetry of any kind. 



The calicles are quite irregular in a finely granular surface. 



The colour of the unbleached stock is nearly black, and penetrates 5 mm. into the coral. 



This singular Porites was also, like the last, said to have come from the East Indian Seas, 

 and that is probably correct. Its peculiar growth ought certainly to enable us to recognise it 

 again, as soon as its home is located. 



* I am indebted for this date to Mr. Wm. Sherborn. 



