TRIBE I. ASTR^ACEA. 315 



lamellis subsolitariis, talpa tenuioribus et brevioribus ; oririmis medi- 

 ants seriatis. 



Narrow oblong, curving slightly like the letter S, attenuate towards 

 both extremities. Corallum with the lamellae subsolitary, thinner 

 and shorter than in the talpa ; medial oririmes seriate. 



/ 



According to Seba's figure, to which Ehrenberg refers, this species 

 attains a length of five inches, with a breadth of but one and a quarter 

 inches. Around the oririmes of the medial series, the lamellae are 

 substellate, but elsewhere they are subsolitary, and hardly a sixth of 

 an inch long. 



Talpa marina, &c., Seba, Thes. iii., fig. 31, Fungia talpa, (in part,) Lamarck, ii., 373, 



tab. 112. No. 8. 



Agaricia talpa, (in part,) Schweig. Handb. Polyphyttia sigmoides, Ehrenberg, G. xvi., 



415. sp. 3. 



4. POLYPHYLLIA PELVIS. ( Quoy <$ Gaymard.} 



P. plus minusve oblonga, convexa, subtus concava ; tentaculis rubro-brun- 

 neis, apice albidis. Corallum tenue, fragile; lamellis solitariis ince- 

 qualibus, denticuhtis, granulosis ; oririmis medianis, corallis adultis, 

 subseriatis. 



Somewhat oblong, convex, below concave; tentacles brownish-red, 

 white at tip. Corallum thin, fragile ; lamellae unequal, denticulate, 

 granulous ; in large specimens the medial oririmes subseriate. 



Port Carteret, New Holland, and also Vanikoro. Quoy $ Gaymard. 



The thin and fragile character of the corallum, as well as its shape, 

 distinguishes this species from the preceding. Quoy and Gaymard 

 describe it as having the form of a shallow basin inverted, either oval, 

 round, or subquadrilateral. The series of medial oririmes, in the 

 largest specimen seen by them, extended from one extremity to the 

 other, along the longest diameter. The under surface they describe 

 as undulato-striate. According to the figure given by these authors, 

 the lamellae are little over a third of an inch in length, and the tenta- 

 cles, when expanded, are placed obliquely over them. 



