114 MADEEPORARIA 



106. Porites x. 4. (Pm-ites incertce sedis quarta.) 

 Syn. Madrepura amtigua Esper, Pflanzenth. Forts, i. p. 81, pi. Ixvi. 



Description. — The corallum rises in small irregular tufts of erect crumpled leaves, or 

 greatly compressed stems, 4 cm. high. The top edges are lobate, and bent, the lobes separated 

 by incisions of various lengths. Knobs or lobes also project from the faces and sides of the 

 leaves. 



The caUcles are hardly visible to the naked eye. The whole surface is covered with 

 granules or flakes, partly simple, partly echinvdate, all reaching the same height. Here and 

 there a rounded fossa with a central tubercle can be recognised, while round these the 

 granules are arranged radially. 



The surface is white. 



This description is based upon Esper's text and figures. There can, I think, be no 

 doubt whatever that it was a true Porites with a smooth, granular surface and superficial 

 calicles. The septa, as stellate arrangements of granules, surround a fossa with a central 

 tubercle, no paU being differentiated. Lamarck identified tliis coral with one from the Indian 

 Ocean wliich he called " Pavonia plicata" (= Psammocora contigua M.-E. and H.), but I do 

 not see how the identification of these figures with Psammocora is possible. The magnified 

 figure shows the granules scattered confusedly over the surface, but nothing approaching the 

 patterns typically seen on Psammocora. 



I have seen no Porites either in London or Paris at all resembling this. It remains to 

 be re-discovered, which should be easy considering its remarkable character. 



107. Porites x. 5. (Porites incertce sedis quinta.) 



Syn. Madrepora conglomerata Esper, Pflanzenth. Forts, i. p. 72, pi. lixA. 



Description. — The corallum is globular with flattened base, but with only a small area of 

 attachment to the substratum ; round this area edges of different growth-periods can be made 

 out. The lateral and upper surfaces are so convoluted as to appear almost broken up into 

 separate lobes between which deep concave valleys dip down. 



The calicles are not described or figured. We gather only that they are typical of the 

 Poritidse, but whether of Goniopora or of Porites, there is no means of knowing. They are 

 said to be very like those of the coral figured on Esper's pi. lix, which appears from the fact 

 that it had fifteen septa to have been a Goniopora.* From the general character of the 

 specimen as figured, it is fairly safe to regard it as having been a true Porites. 



Esper obtained the specimen from a friend, who again had it from an old collection, but 



* See below, p. 157. 



