188 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



In Madrepora palmata, vulgarly named Neptune's Car, we have 

 a large and beautiful species, whose expanding branches are flat, 

 round at the base, and formed into lobes, whose length is often as 

 much as three feet high, with a breadth of twenty inches, and a 



Fig. 72. Porites furcata (Lamarck), natural size. 



thicknes.j of two to two and a half : this fine madrepore is found ir. 

 the Caribbean Sea and among the Antilles. 



Here also comes A streopora punciifera, Fig. 64, p. 180. 



The genus Porites belong to the second family Poritinse of the 

 perforated madrepores, the polypidom is entirely formed by a reticu- 

 lated sclerenchyma, the animal is somewhat pitcher-shaped, with 

 twelve short tentacula ; the cells are unequally polygonal, imperfectly 



