300 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



costte passing from one calice to another, or by special structures. The genera Astrsea and Prionastrsea 

 amongst the recent Corals, and Isastmea and Thanmastnea belonging to the extinct fauna, are familiar 

 examples. 



The Cladocoracese are a sub-family with dendroid-shaped Corals, and some of the genera are 



extinct. Cladocora ccespitosa is a well-knc 



of 



the Mediterranean, and other species 

 inhabit the West Indian Seas and 

 Madeira. Some of the spined septate 

 Corals bud in a remarkable manner 

 from a kind of creeping root, or stolon, 

 and the corallites thus arising may or 

 may not be covered with epitheca. These 

 are the sub-family Astrangiacese, and 

 the genera Cylicia, Cryptangia, and 

 Astrangia are types, some species being 

 extinct. Finally, two little groups, the 

 Echinopora? and Mei'ulinaj, are the last 

 of the series, and lead, by their structural 

 peculiarities, to the next family. 



FAMILY FUNG1D.E. 

 This family is characterised by the 

 flat growth of the corallum, and especially 

 by the occurrence, in the interseptal 

 spaces, of stout, straight dissepiments, 

 simply stretching across from septum to 

 septum, like little beams. These are 

 Synapticulse. There are two sub-families. 

 In the first, the Funginse, the under 

 part of the wall or base is more or less 

 porous and spinulate. The common large 

 simple Coral (Fungia patella}, so like 

 a flat mushroom, which is found very 

 generally on the shores of the Eastern seas, is the type. Another, elongate in shape, has been compared 

 to the Sea-slug, and is a large Coral.* Several genera are extinct, and Micrabacia of the Chalk is 

 an example. In the sub-family Lophoserinse, the wall is entire and not spinose, and it contains 

 some twenty genera. Some have the species simple and cup- shaped, or button-shaped ; others are 

 compound. Agaricia is a typical genus. Moseley obtained a beautiful Coral (Sathi/actis symnietrica) 

 from a wider range than any other known Coral from thirty fathoms to three miles of depth, and in all 

 the oceans. There are instances amongst the Fungidse, as well as in the Aporosa, where the buds 

 become disconnected from the parent, and form other and independent Corals. The family was 

 represented in the early Secondary formations, and has persisted. 



GROUP MADREPORARIA PERFORATA OR POROSA. 



The group of the Perforate Corals, whose hard texture is reticulate and open, is subdivided into 

 two families. In one, the Madreporidse, the wall is porous, but the septa are more or less lamellar and 

 entire ; and in the other, the Poritida?, the wall and septa are both reticulate and porous. 



An important sub-family of the Madreporidte is that of the Eupsammina?, in which the smaller 

 and younger septa curve towards the older ones close by, so that a very elegant pattern is formed. 

 The Dendrophyllia dredged up in the Mediterranean and off Madeira, which has a curious scent, 

 belongs to this sub-family, and the most beautiful Corals known, the Stephanophyllise, also. These 

 are found living at considerable depths at the present time, and there were exquisitely beautiful 

 species in the Secondary and Tertiary ages. A very remarkable form, called Leptopenus discus, a 



* Herpctolitha Umax. 



DENDKOl'HYLLIA ItAMKA. 



