112 PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 



Station, Murray Island. — Southeast reef, line I, 1,635 f^^f from shore; water 

 16 inches deep at lowest tide; hard, rocky bottom. 



Distribution. — Red Sea; Chagos; Murray Island; Philippine Islands; Fiji 

 Islands. 



Favites pentagona (Esper). 



Plate 42, figure i, reproduction of Esper's enlarged view of the calices; figure 2, specimen from French Somaliland. 



1794. Madrepora pentagona Esper, Pflanzenth., Fortsetz., p. 29, plate 39, figs, i, 2. 



1816. Astrea dejormis Lamarck, Hist. nat. Anim. sans Vert., vol. 2, p. 264. 



1848. Aphrastrea deforniis Milne Edwards and Haime, Acad. Sci., Comptes rend., vol. 27, p. 446. 



1848. Aphrastrea dejormis Milne Edwards and Haime, Ann. Sci. nat., 3d ser., Zool., vol. 10, p. 320, plate 9, 



figs. II, lia. 



1849. Aphrastrea dejormis Milne F'dwards and Haime, Ann. Sci. nat., 3d ser., Zool., vol. II, p. 165. 

 1857. Aphraslrera dejormis Milne Edwards and Haime, Hist. nat. Corall., vol. 2, p. 452. 



1904. Aplirastreca dejormis Gardiner, Fauna and Geogr. Maldive and Laccadive Arch., p. 773, plate 63, 



fig 31- 

 1907. Aphrastrea dejormis Vaughan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, p. 255. 

 1914. Aphrastrea dejormis Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser , Zool., vol. 17, p. 122. 

 NoN : 



1914. Fai'ia pentagona Matthai, Trans. Linn. .Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 95, plate 10, fig. 5, 

 plate 24, figs. 2-4; plate 36, fig. 4, which = Favites melieerum (Ehrenberg). 



Plate 42, figure i, is a reproduction of Esper's enlarged view of the calices of 

 his Madrepora pentagona. Comparison with figure I, which he says is natural size, 

 shows the enlargement to be 2.5 times. Plate 42, figure 2, represents the caHces 

 of a specimen collected by Dr. Charles Gravier at Djibouti, French Somaliland. 

 These calices are also enlarged 2.5 times. It is obvious that the two figures repre- 

 sent the same species. 



Plate 42, figure 2, shows that asexual reproduction is by marginal fission, as only 

 a small part of a corner of the parent polyp is cut off to form the new one. In this 

 and other characters the affinity to Favites abdita, the genotype, is evident. Milne 

 Edwards and Haime say regarding Aphrastrea in their original diagnosis: "DifFere 

 des Goniastree par ses murailles tres-developpees et entierement vesiculeuses." In 

 places there is distinct theca between the distal ends of the septa, but it is inter- 

 rupted, as is the theca in Mceandra dcedalea, species of Physogyra, etc. The en- 

 dotheca is greatly developed, very vesicular, and the corallum is light. As the 

 interruption of the wall does not seem a character of generic value, I am referring 

 Aphrastrea to Favites and place it near F. abdita. 



Favia pentagona of Matthai is an entirely different species, to which Ehrenberg 

 (according to Matthai) applied the name Astraa melieerum. 



Distribution. — French Somaliland; Maldives; and Indian Ocean without specific 

 localities. Not reported from the Pacific. 



Favites melieerum (Ehrenberg). 



Plate 41, figures 6, 6a, specimen from Cocos-Keeling Islands. 



1834. Astre^a melieerum Ehrenberg, Corallenth. Roth. Meet., p. 96. 



1914. Favia pentagona Matthai, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2d ser., Zool., vol. 17, p. 95, plate 10, fig. 5; 

 plate 24, figs. 2-4; plate 36, fig. 4 (non Madrepora pentagona Esper, 1797). 



It has been shown that Astrea dejormis Lamarck, type species of Aphrastrea 

 Milne Edwards and Haime, is Madrepora pentagona Esper. Professor Stanley Gard- 

 iner has sent to the U. S. National Museum a specimen labeled Favia pentagona by 

 Mr. Matthai. Dr. Wood Jones collected three damaged pieces of the same species 

 in Cocos-Keeling, one of which is illustrated on plate 41, figures 6, 6a. As the spe- 

 cific name pentagona is inapplicable, yneliceriim Ehrenberg should be used, as it seems 

 to be the oldest of those proposed for the species. Matthai's figures and descrip- 

 tions are good. 



