312 ZOOPHYTES. 



This species is called by the old authors, Neptune's Cap. One of 

 the Expedition specimens is a foot in diameter at base, and eight inches 

 high. The lamellae are very stout, with irregular narrow incised den- 

 tations nearly an eighth of an inch long. They are every where 

 more or less radiate, and not unfrequently a lateral process passes off 

 from a lamella to an adjoining centre. 



Bonnet de Neptune, Tournefort, Acad. R. Mitra Polonica, Rumph., vi. tab. 88, fig. 3. 

 des Sciences, 1700, p. 27, with a plate Fungia Pileus, Lamarck, ii. 374, No. 9. 

 facing p. 30. , Lamouroux, Encyc., 420. 



GENDS V. POLYPHYLLIA. QUOY & GAYMARD. 



FungidcE liberce, gemmates, explanatce ; polypis (zqualiter et omnino 

 spar sis (raro media remote seriatis], confer tis, oribus et tentaculis un- 

 dique intermistis. Coralla lamellis brevissimis (semipollice minoribus) 

 denticulatis, sparsis aut vix radiatis, oririmis sparsis, interdum in- 

 conspicuis. 



Free Fungidce, budding and explanate ; polyps equal and throughout 

 scattered, rarely remotely seriate along the medial line, crowded, 

 with mouths and tentacles every where interspersed. Coralla 

 with very short lamellae (less than half an inch long), denticulate, 

 scattered or imperfectly radiate ; oririmes scattered, sometimes in- 

 distinct. 



The Polyphyllise resemble caps or inverted cups, oblong basins 

 or troughs, the under surface being concave and the upper corre- 

 spondingly convex ; and they are often of large size, a length or dia- 

 meter of a foot being common with some species. The upper surface 

 of the corallum consists of a large number of very narrow denticulate 

 lamellae, and when alive, the whole is bristled with as many tentacles, 

 a single tentacle corresponding to each ; among the tentacles are scat- 

 tered the small polyp-mouths. These species consequently differ 

 from the Herpetolithi and Halomitrse, in being so closely aggregated 

 that there is only a single tentacle between adjacent mouths ; and it 

 is due to this that the lamellae are shorter than in any others of the 

 free Fungidae. They are also in general fragile species. 



