CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. I23 



Mussa sinuosa (Lamarck). 



Plate 49, figure I, type of Ellis and Solinder's Madrepora aiigulosa y; figure 2, probably the type of Dana's jl/urjii 

 costata; figure 3, type of Dana's Mussa cytherea; plate 50, figures i, la, lb, specimen from Murray Island. 



1786 Madrepora angulosa 7 Ellis and Solander, Nat. Hist. Zooph., p. 153, plate 34 (nun Madrepora 



angulosa Pallas.) 

 1816. Caryophyllia sinuosa Lamarck, Hist. nat. Anim. sans Vert., vol. 2, p. 229. 

 1846. Mussa coslata Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 179, plate 7, figs. 2, 2a, 2b. 

 1846. Mussa sinuosa Dana, U. S. Expl Exped., Zooph., p. 179, plate 8, figs, i, la-lc. 

 1846. Mussa cythen-a Dana, U. S. Expl. Exped., Zooph., p. 180, plate 7, figs. 3a-3c 

 1857. Mussa sinuosa Milne Edwards and Haime, Hist. nat. Corall., vol. 2, p. 333. 

 1886. Mussa brueggt'fnaimi Quelch, Reef Corals, Challenger Reports, p. 79, plate 2, figs. 6-Gb. 

 1907. Mussa brueggemanni Bedot, Madreporaires d'Amboine, p. iSo, plate 17, figs. 76-83. 



Identification based on photograph of Ellis andSolander's type, kindly furnished 

 by Professor J. Graham Kerr of the University of Glasgow. 



The specimen from Murray Island (plate 50, figs, i, ia, \b) was in an unhealthy 

 condition; it was partly dead, and had been stunted by an adverse environment. 

 Therefore it is not typical. The edge zone extends only a short distance below 

 the calice, 5 or 6 mm., but some strong spines persist on the costae. The spines on 

 the septal arches are similar to those of the type of M. sinuosa, and between the 

 larger, thicker septa are usually from 3 to 5 smaller ones, ranging in size according 

 to cycle. On the lower edges of the septa are a few, i to 3, conspicuous teeth, and 

 the smaller septa have finer dentations on their margins. The columella is poorly 

 developed, composed of a few coarse trabeculae. 



Station, Murray Island. — Southeast reef, line I, 1,000 feet from shore; water 

 17 inches deep. 



It appears from Lamarck's description that he based this species primarily 

 on Ellis and Solander's figure. Professor J. Graham Kerr has sent me a photo- 

 graph of Ellis and Solander's type (plate 49, fig. i). The width of the calices ranges 

 from 18.5 to about 30 mm. Septa, 5 to 7 to the centimeter. There are large, thick 

 septa, up to 2 mm. thick, with margins strongly exsert, up to 5.5 mm., upper edges 

 with strong teeth, below promment shorter, distant subacute or rounded teeth to 

 near the columella. Smaller septa, either singly or in groups of from 3 to 5 between 

 the larger; these are thinner, not so exsert, and have slender teeth on their margins 

 to the columella where they extend so far inward. Columella lax, composed of 

 septal trabeculae. Costal distinct, alternating in size, some with prominent spines. 



The U. S. National Museum has about 45 specimens of this species from the 

 southern Philippine Islands, collected by J. B. Steere. The range in width of the 

 calices, length of series, and density of corallum is great, but the character of the 

 septal dentation is constant for the series. Quelch's Mussa brueggemanni is a part 

 of the series; and from Klunzinger's descriptions and figures of Mussa hemprichi 

 Ehrenberg, it is only a form of M. sinuosa. 



There is some doubt regarding Dana's type of Mussa costata. Specimen 

 No. 43 of the Exploring Expedition corals was labeled by Dana "Af. sinuosa ?, 

 Tahiti," but Dana did not in his report assign any coral to M. sinuosa (Lamarck). 

 As this specimen came from Tahiti, and accords both with the description and 

 figures of M. costata, it seems to be the type. It is represented by plate 49, figure 2. 

 Comparison with the figures of Ellis and Solander's Madrepora angulosa var. 7 

 — Mussa sinuosa (Lam.) shows that they are the same species, of which the 

 specimen from Murray Island is only a stunted colony. 



The specimen of M. costata stands midway between M. brueggemanni Quelch 

 and M. cytherea Dana (see plate 49, fig. 3). At one time I thought the latter separ- 

 able from M. sinuosa by its narrower valley, and the usual absence of prominent 

 dentations on the lower part of the margins of the largest septa, but as such denta- 



