886 Mr. S. Pace on “ Moseleya.” 
we read : — The discovery of Moseleya latistellata, a reef- 
coral from Wednesday Island, Torres Straits, leaves no doubt 
as to the close relationship of the Astraeidae to the Cyatho- 
phyllidae. Moseleya is a compound coral with polygonal 
calicles, a thin epitheca, a rudimentary theca, and the cavity 
of the calicles is filled up nearly to the margin by tabulae 
separated by an abundant dissepimental endotheca. ‘The 
septa in adult calicles are numerous and give no indication of 
a hexameral arrangement, but in young calicles a tetrameral 
symmetry is distinctly visible *, owing to the cruciate arrange- 
ment of four large septa. Moseleya shows decided affinities, 
on the one hand toa typical Astraeid such as Prionastraea ; on 
the other hand to a Cyathophyllid, such as Cyathophyllum 
regium, and it cannot be doubted that the Cyathophyllidae 
and the forms allied to them can no longer be classified apart 
as Rugosa, but must be placed along with or close to the 
Astraeidae.”’ 
It has recently been my fortune, while collecting in Torres 
Straits, to meet with a very considerable number of specimens 
of what I take to be a species of Lithophyllia, The coral in 
question is a common one at most stations in this region; it 
is met with at and below extreme low-water mark on the 
reefs, while most of my specimens have been obtained from 
the backs of pearl-shell picked up by divers in depths ranging 
from 3 or 4 fathoms to upwards of 20. As is the case with 
corals in general, the shape and general appearance of the 
corallum is very variable, and it assumes quite a different 
character in relation to the nature of the environment. Now, 
the point to which I would call attention is that some examples 
of this form appear to be quite indistinguishable from Quelch’s 
Moseleya latistellata. The question therefore naturally arises 
whether those who have based such weighty conclusions 
upon the single ‘Challenger’ specimen may not have acted 
somewhat precipitately : whether, after all, Moseleya may in 
reality have no genetic relationship whatever to the Cyatho- 
phyluide, and whether its supposed Rugose characters are not 
merely the expression of adaptive modification. 
Most of the specimens brought home by me differ at first 
sight very considerably from the ‘Challenger’ specimen of 
Moseleya in that the calices are not nearly so flattened or 
* One can find in this specimen symmetry of any order—tetrameral, 
hexameral, or pentameral ; all equally subjective. 
+ Some examples were preserved and will be presented to the British 
Museum; but unfortunately I did not at the time realize how much 
interest they possessed, as otherwise I might easily have collected much 
more material, and should also have made more careful observation of the 
coral during life. 
