92 PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 



The type of species is from the Fiji Islands. 



Professor Stanley Gardiner has sent to the U. S. National Museum a specimen 

 from Turadu, Maldives, labeled Leptastrea ehrenbergana by Mr. Matthai. This is 

 the same as Dana's Aslrcea -purpurea. 



As it seems to me probable that L. roissyana of Milne Edwards and Haime 

 is a synonym of this species, their description is quoted:^ 



" Polypier encroutant at dont la forme est determinee par celle des corps qui le recouvre. 

 Polypierites ordinariement tres-courts. Calices presque toujours tres-rapproches, cir- 

 culaires, plus ou moins deformes. Columelle assez bien developpee. 3 cycles cloison- 

 naires complets; en outre, on voit, dans une des moities de certains systemes la cloison 

 tertiaire se developper davantage et des cloisons d'un 4" cycle apparaitre. Cloisons inegales, 

 tres-minces, debordantes, tres-granulees, a lord subentier en haul, finement dentele pres de la 

 columelle. Loges profondes, traverses simples, presque horizontales, distantes entre elle 

 d'un millimetre. Diametre des calices, de 5 a 6 millimetres." 



A part of the description quoted is itahcized here, so as to emphasize certain 

 characters and facilitate comparison with the foregoing description of the type of L. 

 purpurea. The figure of L. roissyana, given by Milne Edwards and Haime,^ shows 

 that the septa have sloping margins, teeth near the columella, and granulate sides, 

 all characters of L. purpurea. 



Regarding L. transversa Kls., Klunzinger says:^ 



" Sie [die Septa] sind schmal, diinn, nur leicht gekornt, nicht oder kaumgezahnt, und 

 nur unten finden sich an einigen Septen einige papillenartige Zahnchen, die aber auch oft 

 fehlen. Oben debordiren sie in einen kleinen schmalen, aussen meist senkrecht abfallenden 

 Bogen oder Lappen. Die Columella besteht nur aus wenigen Papillen, welche zumeist 

 verwachsen sind und eine quer durch den Kelchgrund ziehende, zwei Septa verbindende 

 Lamelle bilden, an welche sich ein theil der iibrigen Septa winklig ansetzt." 



Professor Stanley Gardiner has sent to the U. S. National Museum a speci- 

 men of this species which has been labeled Leptastrea roissyana by Mr. Matthai. 

 The specimen is typical L. transvera, and at present I see no reason for referring 

 it to L. roissyana, which seems to me a different species. The septal faces in the 

 former are smooth or nearly so, and the columella is either lamellate or at least with- 

 out a well-developed papillate upper surface; whereas in the latter the septal faces 

 are granulate and the columella is papillate. Besides the specimen just noted, I 

 am also referring to L. transversa a specimen obtained by C. Elschner in Fanning 

 Island (see plate 31, figs, i, la). Matthai may be right in combining L. transversa 

 and roissyana, for those who have had wide experience with stony corals well 

 know how great the range of variation is and that dogmatism on the relations of 

 species is hazardous. It is within the range of probabilities that L. purpurea 

 and L. transversa are variants of one species. However, until intergradation has 

 been firmly established the different forms should be designated by different names. 



There are in the U. S. National Museum 21 specimens which I am including 

 in this species. This series exhibits three varietal facies, as follows: 



(i) Leptastrea purpurea (Dana) typical, which is the same as the L. ehrenhergiana of 

 Matthai (see note above on this page), is characterized by having the costal ends of the septa 

 subequal and crowded, and rather sloping septal margins. (See plate 30, figs, i, la.) 



(2) This is well represented by the coral to which I applied the name Favia hawaiiensis, 

 and by the small-calicled part of the colonies collected by Dr. Wood Jones in Cocos-Keeling 

 Islands. The primary septa and in some calices some or all of the secondaries have dis- 

 tinctly more exsert margins than the higher cycles, and the inner margins of the principal 

 septa are perpendicular (see plate 30, figs. 3, 3a); the contrast in relative exsertness of the 



'Hist. nat. Corall., vol. 2, p. 494. 



'Ann. Sci. nat., 3d ser., Zool., vol. 10, plate 9, figures 6, 6a, 1848. 



'Korallenth. Roth. Meer., pt. 3, pp. 46-47, 1879. 



