694 



ZOOPHYTES. 



Ehrenberg states, have allied characters. The cells are described as 

 radiated with lamellfe. But in the three species of the group seen by 

 the author the interior of the cell is smooth, and the lamellse are barely 

 distinguishable crenatures of the margin, formed apparently by a row 

 of oblong depressions and pores which alternate with the elevations. 

 These crenatures are much more prominent in a species figured by 

 Esper, and look like lamella ; moreover, the exterior of the calicle is 

 correspondingly striated. There is no trace of a cell within the inte- 

 rior of the corallum. 



The characters here stated, as well as the minute size of the polyps, 

 and their usual arrangement on two opposite sides only of a branch, 

 appear to separate the species from the Oculinse, with which they 

 have been united. In the A. bella, the number of crenatures is twenty- 

 four; and this number of lamella? or tentacles in so small a polyp 

 (two-thirds of a line in diameter) would be sufficient, of itself, to indi- 

 cate that the polyps cannot be true Oculinae ; it is, therefore, altoge- 

 ther probable that the crenatures do not correspond each to a lamella. 

 We are unable to infer from the structure of the corallum the true 

 nature of the zoophyte, and leave it to be determined by a discovery 

 of the polyps. They may be related to the Distichoporse. 



The species occur in the tropics, and probably also towards the 

 colder limits of the temperate zone. 



Arrangement of the Species. 



*1. A. flabelliformis. 

 *2. A. rosea. 

 3. A. infundibulifera. 



*4. A. gemmascens. 



5. A. oculina. 



6. A. norwegica. 



1. ALLOPORA FLABELLIFORMIS. (Lamarck.} Dana. 



A. 8" alta, ramosissima, fldbellata, secunda, ramulis crebris minimis, 

 brevissimis et flexuosis. Corallum leve, caliculis minutis (I"' latis), 

 lamellis vix perspicuis. 



Eight inches high, much branched, flabellate, securid, branchlets 

 crowded, minute, and very short, flexuous. Corallum smooth, 

 calicles minute (y of a line broad), lamellae scarcely distinct. 



East Indies. 



