470 On new Species o/* Madrepora in the British Museum. 



the cells occurring in lines of fusion are smaller. Star indis- 

 tinct, only the directive septa recognizable. Corallum verj 

 porous, surface reticulate and echinulate ; wall fragile, striato- 

 reticulate, and later echinulate. 



Treasury Island, Solomon Islands {Dr. Guppj). 



Madrepora suhglahra. 



? Madrepora echinata, Quelch (non Dana), ' Challenger ' Reef-Corals, 

 p. 162. 



Corallum extending in elongate, slender, and oblique or 

 subprostrate branches, closely resembling J/. procumbens in 

 habit and in the form of the branchlets. Branches 6 to 18 

 centim. long, 7 millim. diameter, not terete, owing to the 

 swollen bases of the branchlets. Branchlets 1 to 4 centim. 

 long, similar to those of M. procumbens, but the corallites are 

 more slender, scarcely over 1 millim. diameter at the apex ; 

 margin plane, aperture not contracted ; they vary from 4 to 

 15 millim. in length, the majority are about 7 millim. long, 

 the terminal 3 or 4 millim. being free from budding corallites. 

 The main branches bear a very small number of subiramersed 

 corallites about 0'7 millim. diameter. The star consists of 

 six septa, the directives being thick and prominent, the others 

 much narrower. Corallum dense, surface almost smooth, 

 excepting near the apex, where it is finely echinulate ; wall 

 very finely striato-echinulatc at first, the striaj becoming lost 

 later, and subsequently the echinulations as well. 



The * Challenger ' specimens referred by Quelch to .1/. echi- 

 nata, together with another specimen in the collection, appear 

 to differ from the above in having a slightly more prostrate 

 habit and in the presence of stronger echinulations ; but iu 

 these the echinulations are much finer and shorter on the 

 inferior surface of the branches. 



South Seas ; Fiji Reefs. 



Madrepora sijmmetrica. 



Corallum broad, flat, corymbose, with a short central base, 

 scarcely pedicellate, 35 to 52 centim. broad and 12 to 14 

 centim. high. Under surface complanate, branches crowded 

 and coalescent, somewhat flattened below ; branches 1 centim. 

 thick, with numerous much appressed corallites and lateral 

 tubular ones, which gi\e rise to branchlets in the general 

 plane ; some are 8 to 10 millim. long, 2 millim. thick, and 

 simple; others bear lateral nariform corallites, others again 

 tubular ones, those near the base being elongate and very 

 spreading ; immersed corallites almost absent from the under 

 surface. On the upper surface the main branches give rise 



