120 Mr. H. M. Bernard on the 
It will, perhaps, be remembered that I found just such a 
young colony of Astrwopora, and, further, I concluded that 
the morphological differences between Vurbinaria and Madre- 
pora could be best explained by postulating such a young 
colony in each case; in Madrepora the central polyp grew up 
with tiers of daughters springing from its side, while in 
Turbinaria the ring of daughters shot ahead and formed a 
cup. 
We are then, I think, justified in deducing Montepora from 
a parent polyp opening in a mass of spongy coenenchyma, 
2. e. with a very thick porous wall, contained in a saucer-like 
epitheca. In Montipora, unlike the Madreporide just men- 
tioned, the parent polyp formed no projecting cone, but 
opened level with the upper flattened surface of its thick wall. 
Similarly the young polyps, opening laterally, do not form 
protuberant cones; they appear as mere openings in the 
coenenchyma, often in contact with the epitheca, in which 
case the latter may form part of their outer walls. 
The coenenchyma in the young specimen actually examined 
consists, as seen from the surface, of jagged flakes, which may 
be twisted in all directions, but which tend to he horizontally ; 
the apertures of the polyp-cavities are bounded by the edges 
of two or more such flakes: in this particular instance the 
coenenchyma has been secondarily specialized. From the 
edges of the flakes points project into the polyp-cavity and 
form vertical series of spines. ‘These series of spines are, in 
many types, the only remains of the septal apparatus. 
Examination of all the types, however, shows that the septa 
were originally lamellate, as in the other Madreporide. The 
large directives are often continuously laminate, and here and 
there some of the other primaries also; while, again, what 
appear to be traces of laminate costee can be found in the 
coenenchyma of very many types. ‘Tl’o these important points, 
as also to the cause of the widespread degeneration of the 
septal apparatus, we shall return. 
Starting, then, from such a young colony, with its 
parent polyp surrounded by a ring of daughters all immersed 
in a mass of spongy reticulum contained in an epithecal 
saucer, the stock may develop along different lines. But 
while in the other Madreporide the calicles lead and the 
canenchyma fills up the interstices, in Montipora the cenen- 
chyma takes the lead in the formation of the corallum. I am 
aware that these expressions may, at first sight, appear very 
loose; they are, however, sufficiently useful to render their 
employment justifiable, provided we are quite clear as to 
what they really mean. We must clearly recognize that the 
