CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. IO3 



Favia stelligera var. fanningensis, new variety. 

 Plate 35, figure 4. 



A specimen brought by Mr. Elschner from Fanning Island is very light textured, 

 resembling Favia laxa (Klunzinger) in that character, and differing from the usual 

 relatively dense skeletal texture of F. stelligera. Although the septal margins are 

 somewhat more ragged, its calices are otherwise so similar to those of the latter 

 that it apparently must be regarded as only a hght-textured variant of that species. 

 Figure 4, plate 35, which illustrates the characters mentioned, may be compared 

 with plate 34, figures 2, 2a, and plate 35, figures 2 to 3, which represent the usual 

 condition in typical examples of the species. 



Locality. — Fanning Island (C. Elschner, collector). 



Type: U. S. National Museum; dupUcate in College of Hawaii, Honolulu. 



Favia speciosa (Dana). 



Plate 36, figure i, Dana's type of Astrcea speciosa; figures 2, za, a specimen intermediate between A. speciosa 

 and A. puteolina; figure 3, Dana's type of A. puteolina; figures 4, 4a, plate 37, figure i, Dana's type of 

 A. pandanus; plate 37, figure 2, Dana's type o( A. fragHis; figure 3, a specimen from Murray Island; 

 figures 4, 4a, a specimen from Cocos-Keeling Islands. 



1846. Astraa speciosa Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 220, plate 11, figs, i, la-ld. 



1846. .4straa pandanus Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 222, plate II, figs. 2, za-id. 



1846. Astraa puteolina Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph , p. 223, plate II, figs. 3, 3<2, 3^. 



1846. .4stma fragilis Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 230, plate 12, figs. 2, la-ld. 



1907. Favia okeni Bedot, Madreporaires d'Amboine, p. 202, plate 26, figs. 130-133. 



1907. Favia pandanus Bedot, Madreporaires d'Amboine, p. 204 plate 27, figs. 134-137. 



1907. Favia okeni Vaughan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, p. 256. 



1914. Favia clouei Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 89, plate 12, fig. 6; plate 23, 

 figs. I, 2, s; plate 25, fig. 2; plate 34, fig. i. 



Valenciennes's name clouei is a nomen nudum and became valid in 1857, when 

 Milne Edwards and Haime described the coral to which it was attached. As Favia 

 o^^Mt was described by the latter authors in the same work, although on a preced- 

 ing page, the dates of the two names are the same. This species is Dana's Astrcea 

 speciosa, and in spite of the striking difference in appearance of the type of it and 

 of that o{ Astrcea pandanus, I believe they are variants of the same species. 



Plate 36, figure i, illustrates Dana's type oi A. speciosa. The following is a brief 

 description of it: 



Longer diameter of calices from 9 up to 16 mm.; shorter diameter from 7 to about 

 II mm. Walls around calicular apertures project nearly vertically up to 3 mm.; septal 

 margins project about i mm. higher. Distance between thecal edges of adjacent corallites 

 2.5 to 3.5 mm. Distinct costae, relatively thin, extend down the outside of the free limb 

 of the corallite and meet those of adjoining corallites in the intercorallite areas; their edges 

 regularly and rather finely dentate, the dentations tending to grade inferiorly into beading. 



Septa relatively thin; up to about 18 reach the columella, with i or 2, occasionally 3, 

 shorter septa between each pair of larger. Calices deep, up to 9.5 mm. Septal margins 

 within the calice divided into two parts: an upper and outer part, which falls steeply to 

 the level of the outer margin of the columellar fossa, has rather long, slender, and regular 

 teeth, 6 to 9 in number; the lower part is wider than the upper, more irregularly dentate, 

 dentations fewer and shorter, and its perpendicular inner edges surround the columellar fossa. 

 Above the widening there is often a rather well-developed paliform lobe. Septal faces 

 delicately granulate. Columella relatively small, composed of intertwisted septal trabeculae. 



Texture of corallum light, endothecal and exothecal dissepiments greatly developed. 



Astrcea puteolina Dana (see plate 36, fig. 3) differs from A. speciosa by having 

 more crowded corallites and on the summit of the specimen the corrallite walls do 

 not project as calicular rims. A raised lamellate ridge is often present in the inter- 

 corallite area where costae from adjoining corallites meet. Near the edges, however. 



