imperfectly-hnown Species of Corals. 19 



Favosites punctatuSj Boullier. 

 (PI. I. figs. 3-3 c.) 



Favosites punctata, Boullier, Annales Linneennes, 1826. 



Spec. cTiar. Corallum massive, attaining a large size, and 

 composed of regularly prismatic corallites, which radiate very 

 gently outwards as the periphery of the colony is approached. 

 Corallites basaltiform, angulai', and thin-walled, the average 

 tubes having a diameter of about one millimetre and a half, 

 but having a considerable number of smaller corallites wedged 

 in amongst them at their angles of junction. The walls of 

 the corallites retain their primitively duplex character. Well- 

 marked but irregularly-developed septal spines of a blunt form 

 and upward direction can be detected in parts of the corallum. 

 The tabula? (PL I. fig. 3 c) are complete, numerous, hori- 

 zontal, flexuous or slightly curved, separated by interspaces 

 of from one third to one half of a millimetre. The mural pores 

 are numerous, closely approximated, round or oval in shape, 

 without a raised margin, four or five being generally present 

 in the space of 2 miliims. measured vertically ; their arrange- 

 ment is either uniserial, or they are disposed in two subalter- 

 nating rows, according to the width of the prismatic faces of 

 the corallites. 



Ohs. This species seems to have been overlooked by 

 Milne-Edwards and Haime in their great work on fossil 

 corals (' Polypiers fossiles,' 1851) ; and I am not aware that it 

 has been in any way noticed by subsequent zoophytologists. 

 It was, however, described and figured in a perfectly recog- 

 nizable manner in the year 1826 by M. E. Boullier ("Mdmoire 

 sur une esp^ce de Polypier fossile rapportee au genre Favosite 

 de Lamarck," extraitdes Annales Linneennes pour 1826). I 

 am greatly indebted to Mons. CEhlert for having furnished 

 me with an accurate transcript of the text and figures of this 

 rare paper ; and I can unhesitatingly support the validity of 

 M. Boullier's determination. 



The two species of Favosites to which the present form is 

 most closely related are F. hasalticus^ Goldf,, and F. turhinatus^ 

 Bill. The large corallites in F. hasalticus are much larger than 

 in F.punctatus; its tabulae are in general wider apart; its mural 

 pores are almost always uniserial {Edwards and Haime, Pol. 

 foss. p. 236) ; and the breadth of the corallum is proportion- 

 ally greater than the height. On the other hand, in F. 

 punctatus, Boullier, the corallum is higher than broad, the 

 diameter of the largest corallites is rarely above a millimetre 

 and a half, the tabulse are closely set, and the mural pores 

 are at least as commonly biserial as uniserial. From F. tur- 



2* 



