256 CEYLON PEAEL OYSTER REPORT. 



specimens in spirit show the vivid green colour of the type specimen when living, but 

 several of the specimens have a greenish tinge.* 



This species has hitherto only been recorded from the Maldive Islands. 



Sclerophytum densum, WHITELEUGE (1897). 



One very young mushroom-shaped colony (PRATT, 1903, fig. 18) was taken from 

 Gulf of Manaar ; two specimens, brown in colour, were taken from the reef at Galle ; 

 one reddish-brown specimen from a coral bank in the Gulf of Manaar, and a light 

 brown and a fawn specimen were taken from the reef at Galle. 



The light brown specimen is complete, and is comparatively young, having not yet 

 outgrown its early mushroom shape. It is 22 millims. high, and the capitulum 

 measures 46 millims. by 27 millims. across its surface. 



The capitulum is concave, with a central depression of 12 millims. Small lobes 

 from 2 to 4 millims. high arise from the middle of the cup, while larger ones from 

 5 to 6 millims. high occur near the edge. 



The fawn-coloured specimen was taken on the reef at Galle. It is 70 millims. high, 

 and the capitulum measures 240 millims. by 200 millims. across its surface. The 

 colony forms a large, hard, cake-like mass, with a more or less vertical short and thick 

 stalk, having almost the same breadth as the capitulum, which has no marginal seam. 

 Lobes are very numerous near the edge of the capitulum, but are few and small in 

 the middle. Zooids are numerous on .the lobes, but are scantily distributed over the 

 centre of the capitulum. 



This species appears to be the most common as well as the most \videly distributed 

 species of the genus. It is known from Funafuti, China Seas, British New Guinea, 

 Maldive Islands, and now from the Gulf of Manaar and Galle. 



Sclerophytum querciforme, PRATT (1903). 



Two specimens similar in form, size, texture, and apparently in all essential respects, 

 to the specimens from the Maldive Islands, were taken from the Gulf of Manaar. 

 This species has hitherto only been recorded from the Maldive Islands. 



Sclerophytum durum, PRATT (1903). 



Four specimens were taken. Three from the Reef at Galle and one from the pearl 

 banks in the Gulf of Manaar. 



Three specimens, one complete and two fragmentary, are of a beautiful orange 

 colour (in spirit) of a deeper shade towards the middle and paling towards the 

 margin. The fourth, a cup-shaped colony, is of a deep cream colour. 



As already pointed out (PRATT, 1903, p. 528), specimens of this species from the 

 limited area of the Maldive Islands exhibit great diversity in form and colour. 

 Further modifications in these respects occur in the Ceylon specimens. The cup- 

 shaped colony is similar in form, size, and texture to the cup-shaped Maldive 



* Some of those colonies from Ceylon were certainly green when alive. W. A. H. 



