West-Indian aS/^ccjVs c/ Madrcpora. 25 



specimen appears to me only a M. cervicornis iu which the 

 blanches are numerous and mainly in one plane. 



In regard to the three other intermediate forms, my difli- 

 culty is to understand why IJrook assigned them to the 

 pahnata- cervicornis group. I had tlie privilege of examining 

 them in conjunction with Mr. II. M. Bernard, who agreed 

 as to the improbability of their specific identification. There 

 is no evidence that the corals came from the West Indies, 

 and from the characters of the specimens this source seems 

 unlikely. 



Tiie second specimen is 93. 4. 7. 22^ and its locality is 

 unknown. It is a])parently the young basal portion of a 

 corallum, and is, ])erha[)S, too immature for specific identifica- 

 tion. It is 120 millim. long by 100 niillim. wide, and its 

 surface bears three rows of subconical elevations. On the 

 middle row one process has growu upwards into a branch 

 iiO millim. wide by 25 millim. thick, rising .55 millim. from 

 the bottom of the furrow between the rows and rising 35 millim. 

 above the slit which separates the branch from the adjacent 

 .subconical elevation. In one of the outside rows there is a 

 lower branch, 45 millim. long by 30 niillim. thick by 32 ir.illim. 

 high. In these characters I fail to see anything to ally the 

 specimen to either M. pahnata or M. cervicornis. The coral- 

 lum agrees more nearly with Brook's description of that of 

 iiy. con iy era *. 



The third sjjecimen is no. 93. 4. 7. 23, and its locality is 

 also unkiiuwii. It is divided almost to the bottom into 

 branches which if broken into fragments would be indistin- 

 guishable from those of M. cervicornis, as they would be from 

 several Pacific species. But the corallum is reticular and its 

 general aspect is not t\\2Lioi cervicornis, n\\iQ\\ less of palnuita. 

 It aj)[jcars to me to be more like M. hrevicollis f, though i do 

 not care to venture an attempt at a specific identification of 

 any Indo-Pacific ^ladrepore. 



The fourth sjjecimen (93. 4. 7. 85, locality unknown) is 

 labelled in Mr. Brook's handwriting " J7. 7nurica(a?" The 

 note of interrogation seems amply justified, unless that species 

 be acccjjted in its original Liimean sense for Indian Ocean 

 muricated MaJreporw. The s|)ecimen consists of thick, 

 flat, basal lobcj*, whence arise short thick branches, which 

 divide into a crowded and irregular series of branchlets. It I 

 liad to give the specimen a name I should feel tempted to call 

 it a short-bianched form of the corals which Brook has iden- 

 tified as M. EltrenberjiX' 



* Ikook, Dj}. cit. p. 3 J. 



t Brook, up. lit. ji. lOlt, \A. xxvii. li;,'!*. A, IJ. 



\ EdNvurd.-! & llaiuu", Iliit. iiat. Cor. vol. iii. p. 143 ; Brook, c'/^ lit 

 p. 48. 



