Possil Corah. 213 



2)?s/;v'i?<^joM.— Christmas Island. Fossil from the raised reefs 

 of the sea cliff at Rocky Point. Also recent from fringing reef 

 of Flying Fish Cove. 



Affinities. — The main character of this species is the snbequal 

 size of its septa, which are alternately large and small in most 

 species. 



A recent specimen from Christmas Island has been provisionally 

 named by Mr. Bernard C, aff. sinensis, -svith -^hich it agrees in 

 some characters. But according to Edwards & Haime's diagnosis 

 of C. sinensis the "valleys are extremely short; one sees few of 

 them which are more than 2 cm. in length, and a great number 

 of calicos are independent {se circonscrivent).'''' The septa, moreover, 

 arc alternately large and small. C. sinensis is, indeed, placed 

 by its founders in their genus Astroria, whereas the present 

 species seems to me to be necessarily excluded fi'om that section 

 of Cocloria. 



Another ally of M. equisepta is C. arabica, Klz.* (C forshaeli, 

 Ed. & H.), which tliffcrs, among other characters, by the unequal 

 size of the septa. C. hottai, Ed. & H.,- in this respect agrees with 

 the Christmas Island species, but it has the columella " tout-a-fait 

 rudiment aire." 



Another coral with which this species has points of resemblance 

 is the M(eandrina heterogyra of Ed. & H. ; ^ but that species is 

 described as having subequal septa of 2-3 cycles, a well developed 

 columella, and 12-14 septa per cm. The locality of the type is 

 unknown, and Qucleh^ maintains that it is a West Indian coral, 

 and the name is a synonym of M. strigosa, Dana, i.e. Mceandrina 

 filograna (Esper), 



lleference to this Mceandrina raises the question of the retention 

 of Mceandrina and Coeloria. The latter genxis was founded by 

 Milne Edwards & Haime^ in 1848 for one species pre^dously 

 known as Mceandrina dcedalea, which must therefore be taken as 

 the tjqie. Coeloria was separated fi'om Mceandrina simply as in 

 the former the columella is parietal and rucUmentaiy, and in the 

 latter is essential and spongy. In 1857 Edwards & Haime® 

 retained the genera on the same grounds : they stated that in 

 Mceandrina the columella is " bien developpee," whereas Coeloria 

 belongs to a group with the columella nidimentary or absent. 

 Since that date those authors who have accepted Codoria have 



1 Klunzinger: Korallth. Eotli. Meer., iii, Steiukor., pt. 2 (1879), p. 17, 

 pi. ii, figs. 1-3 and 8 ; pi. ix, fig. 10. 



- Edwards & Haime, Mem. Astr., pt. ii : Ann. Sci. nat., Zool., scr. in, 

 vol. xi (1849), p. 295. 



^ Edwards & Haime, Mem. Astr., pt. ii: Ann. Sci. nat., Zool., ser. in, 

 vol. xi (1849), p. 281. 



* Quelch. Eeef Corals : Rep. Chall. Exped., Zool., vol. xvi, pt. 46, p. 93. 



* Edwards & Haime, Classif. deux. trib. Astr. : Compt. Eend., vol. xlvi, 

 p. 493. 



* Edwards & Haime : Hist. nat. Cor., vol. ii, p. 289. 



