the Collection of the British Museum. 417 



thin, short, upright spines. Diameter of cells 1 to 1| millim., 

 their depth about 6 to 10 millims. 



Hah. Unrecorded. B. IL. 



In the only specimen the outline figure of the upper sur- 

 face is kidney-shaped, the corallum being deeply emarginate 

 where it had been fixed to the ground. The greatest dia- 

 meter is nearly 8 inches, the height 4 to 5 inches, the greatest 

 thickness 1 inch. 



This species differs from all its congeners in its mode of 

 growth, in the ample development of the epitheca, and in the 

 structure of the coenenchyma. The echinulation of the 

 surface is more delicate, and the cells are smaller and more 

 distant, than in either of the other species (perhaps with the 

 exception of A. palifera^ which I have not seen) . 



The genus Astrceopora now comprises five species, three of 

 which were already known to Lamarck ; the fourth was de- 

 scribed and figured by Dana as A. pulvinaria (U.S. Expl. 

 Exped., Zooph. p. 415, pi. 29. fig. 3), and afterwards enume- 

 rated as A. profunda by Verrill (in Dana, ' Corals and Cor. 

 Isl.,' Appendix). 



Astrea stellulata of Lamarck (Hist. Anim. s. Yert. ii. p. 261) 

 and Gemmipora fungiformis of Michelin (Mag. Zool. 1840, 

 Zooph. pi. 2) do not JDcloug to this genus. The first is not 

 determinable ; and even if it should prove to be a distinct 

 species, it ought to be renamed, because Lamarck meant to 

 describe the totally different Madrepora stellulata of Ellis and 

 Solander. Gemmipora fungformis is one of the earliest 

 stages of Turhinaria peltata ; the only difference which might 

 be pointed out from the description and figure is the extreme 

 porosity of the coenenchyma. But this condition is evidently 

 due to the mode of preparation, and is frequently found in a 

 similar degree in specimens of this and the other species of 

 Turhinaria. 



II. Kemarks on the Species of Seriatopora. 



1. Seriatopora lineata. B.M. 



Millepora lineata, Linnaeus, 1758 and 1767. 



Madrepora seriatn, Pallas, 1766; Ellis & Solander, pi. 31. figs. 1,2. 



Seriatopora suhvlata, Lamarck, 1816 ; M, Edwards. 



The Millepora lineaia of Linnteus is evidently the same as 

 the Seriatopora suhulata of Milne-Edwards (but neither of 

 Ehrenberg nor of Dana). Linn^eus's description answers ex- 

 ceedingly well to this species, and is even much more to the 

 point than Lamarck's unsatisfactory diagnosis. Pallas may 

 have included several species under his Madrepora seriata ; 



