Meiliji Jiorniaiii, Kirlp. 45 



iisoil simply in a wide ctymoloj^icnl sctisc, as a cell concerned 

 I'itlier ininiL'diatoly or remotely in the tbrniation of a calcareous 

 skeleton. 



In Alay I paid another short visit to ]^Iadeira and Porto 

 Santo in the hope of finding larger specimen?, and possibly 

 some in reproduction. At Maileira, I saw, in the Seminario 

 Museum, a dried specimen of an old and dead J >ehdri<jthifUia 

 with a very large crust of J/er/j'a uptin it. 'I'he specimen had 

 only recently been hooked up by a fisherman from 90 fathoms 

 off Cape Gariijau. On one portion of the crust were a ^cvf 

 sliallow circular depressions, about 450 /x in diameter and 

 l.')Ofi deep, scattered among tiie ordinary meshes, which were 

 only 180-200 fi in diameter, both kiiuls being barely visible 

 to the naked eye. On the walls ami floors of these larger 

 meshes were 4 to 6 slightly developed radiating ridges ; in 

 fact, they presented some resemblance to extremely minute 

 coral calices. Judging from the appearance and relations of 

 the walls and ridges, these "calices " appear to have resulted 

 from the fusion of several smaller meshes; at the bottom of 

 some of them were sponge-spicules. These larger meshes 

 may possibly not have any great significance, and be the 

 result of extraneous ii.fluences, tor there were numerous worm- 

 tubes appealing level with the surface, and the presence of 

 these might locally affect the growth of the vertical tubes in 

 various ways. 



Scnhor Noroidia and I took with us to C. Garajau tlie man 

 who got the large specimen, but we were not successful in 

 obtaining other examples. I spent three days at Poito tSanIo, 

 and, just as I was having, a fisherman brought me a block of 

 basalt hooked up from 90 fathoms, enciusted with a large 

 patch of Merita about 25 cm. in area; but unfortunately the 

 specimen was dry, and I had no time to visit the spot whence 

 it was obtained. 



Prof. Weltuer {!.c. supra) states that the calcareous frame- 

 woik reminds him of a stony coral. I, too, was struck with 

 the resemblance of Merita to a coral when 1 saw the specimen 

 in the 8eminario Museum. 



Recent corals with tabulae are found in three widely 

 separate groups of corals, viz. Milleporidas, Pocilloporida3 

 [luciKoporay Seriato/'Ora), and Ilelioporidaj. 



The structure of J/^r/m resembles, in some respects, that 

 of a C'ocnothecalian coral. The flanges, with fibrillar struc- 

 ture, radiating out to meet opposing flanges, from which they 

 are separated by a suture, recall what is found in Jhlioporn. 



If tlie larger meshes of the Seminario specimen are really 

 coral calicos, the ordinary meshes would be coinenchymal 



