MATTHAI— RECENT COLONIAL ASTR^ID^ 



115 



equal or sub-equal. In the specimen there are seven double corallites of which two are 

 Cceloria-like, being without partitions, while in the others the partitions have grown only 

 up to the middle of the calices. 



25. Favia rotulosa (Ellis and Solander). 



1786. Madrepora rotulosa, Ellis and Solander, Nat. Hist. Zooph., p. 166, pi. 55, figs. 1 — 3 (non Astrea rotulosa, 

 Lamarck, a,nA' Favia rotulosa, Ehrb. and Ed. and H.). 



There is no example of this species in my collections. 



In Ellis and Solander's type (12x10x9 cm. and identical with their fig. 1) of 

 Madrepora rotulosa, now in the Glasgow Museum, the corallites are round or oval, 

 slightly projecting, becoming somewhat oblique towards the edges ; the calices are 

 4 — 5 mm. in diameter. The total number of septa is up to 16 or 20, of which 6 — 8 meet 

 the columella in every corallite, each with a conspicuous bluntly-pointed paliform lobe ; an 

 alternating cycle of rudimentary septa can be made out in some of the corallites. 



Similar to this and of about the same size is another specimen in the Glasgow 

 Museum, but as it is not one of Ellis and Solander's figured types its history cannot be 

 determined. 



In the Paris Museum are two large specimens named Heliastrcea annularis, the 

 larger (26x25x16 cm.) from " mers d'Amerique " and the other from West Indies, 

 which are identical with Ellis and Solander's type. 



GONIASTBEA (Milne Edwards and Haime). 



1816. Astrea (pars), Lamarck, Hist. Anim. sans vert., ii, p. 257. 



1830. Dipsastrea (pars), Blainville, Diet. Sci. Nat., Ix, p. 338. 



1834. Astrea (pars), Ehrenberg, Corall. roth. Meer., p. 95. 



1848. Fissiaelli subgenus iii of Astrcea (pars), Dana, Expl. exp. Zooph., p. 220. 



1849. Goniastrcea (pars), Milne Edwards and Haime, Compt. rend, de I'Acad. des Sci., xxvii, p. 495. 

 1857. Goniastrcea (pars), Milne Edwards and Haime, Hist. Nat. Corall., ii, p. 444. 



1879. Goniastrcea (pars), Klunzinger, Korall. Roth. Meer., iii, p. 32. 



1884. Goniastrcea, Duncan, Jour. Linn. Soc. London, ZooL, xviii, p. 102. 



1899. Goniastrcea, Gardiner, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, -p. 746. 



1904. Goniastrcea, Gardiner, Fauna Geogr. Maldives and Laccadives, p. 772. 



1904. Prionastrcea (pars), Gardiner, Fauna Geogr. Maldives and Laccadives, p. 785. 



Corallum. Massive or incrusting. Corallites polygonal, often with a tendency to 

 meander, walls completely fused, usually thin and ridged. Septa narrow, slightly exsert, 

 all of more or less equal width at the calicular margin ; when dipping vertically presenting 

 an appearance of remarkably even-sized plates and making the walls appear thicker than 

 they really are. The principal septa with paliform lobes ; no tiue pali. An alternating 

 cycle of rudimentary septa present. The main septa in neighbouring corallites either 

 continuous over the walls or meeting the rudimentary ones, in the latter case appearing to 

 alternate when seen with the naked eye. Columella little developed, sometimes quite 

 absent. 



Polyps. The following characters distinguish the polyps from those of Favia, : 

 (1) the presence of not more than six principal couples of mesenteries; (2) the number of 

 subsidiary couples of mesenteries proportionately more than in Favia, viz. more than 

 thrice (usually four or five times) the number of principal couples; (3) nematocysts II 



15—2 



