156 PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 



according to Bernard, the secondary septa are well developed and are subequal to 

 the primaries. Because of the small size of the fragment, although I am unable to 

 refer it to any described species known to me, I am not giving the specimen a spe- 

 cific name. 



Montipora verrucosa (Lamarck). 



1816. Porius verrucosa Lamarck, Hist. nat. Anim. sans Vert., vol. 2, p. 271. 

 1897. Montipora verrucosa Bernard, Cat. Montipora, p. 103, plate 19, fig. 2. 

 1907. Montipora verrucosa Vaughan, U. S. Nat. Mns. IJull. 59, p. 160, plate 53-59 (all figs.). 



Mr. Elschner collected at Fanning Island a specimen which is duplicated by 

 the part of the specimen shown in the background of plate 57, figure i, of my paper 

 cited in the synonymy, /". c, the growth-form is subramose, and either single papillae 

 or two or three papillae fused into series occur on the branch summits. It seems 

 to me that this series of specimens, including those from the Hawaiian Islands, may 

 connect with Montipora circiimvallata Ehrenberg, as described and figured by von 

 Marenzeller,^ but without actual comparison of specimens only a suggestion is 

 warranted. 



Distribulioii. — Great Barrier Reef; Banning Island (Elschner); Hawaiian Islands 



TUBERCULATE MoNTIPOR^. 

 Montipora informis Bernard. 

 Plate 64, figures 3, 4, 4fl, 4^, 4c 

 1897. Montipora infortnis Bernard, Cat. Montipora, p. 133, plate 27, fig. 2; plate 34, fig. 3. 



The following is Bernard's description of this species: 



"Coralkiin encrusting, with free, generally drooping edges, 3 to 4 mm. thick, and with- 

 out supporting epitheca. The upper surface rises into shapeless angular masses, pointed and 

 jagged; these incorporate by encrustation foreign organisms. Other upgrowths are nearly 

 flat, bifruntal laminae or folds, sloping outwards from the faces of the drooping margins. 



"Calices conspicuous, scattered, 1.5 to 2 mm. apart, 0.75 mm. in diameter; deep open 

 fossa. Two cycles of short, rather regular septa, the secondaries smaller than the primaries. 

 The latter spring directly out of the jagged tubercles which surround the calices, except 

 when the latter are immersed in delicate reticulum; in this case the aperture is clear and 

 round, the septa only appearing some distance below the surface. On the under surface the 

 calices are smaller, rather more numerous, and generally surrounded with a protuberant 

 coenenchymatous ring. 



"The coenenchyma is a fragile, delicate retlcidum, which forms in irregular patches 

 (generally giving rise to slight eminences or ridges) stout distinct trabecuLx joined by very 

 thin junctions. These trabecula; at such points rise above the surface to form short ragged 

 tubercles, the long delicate points of which may meet and fuse like thin hyphal threads 

 spread over the surface. In the valleys and on the flatter surfaces the reticulum comes to 

 the surface as a delicate open lacework immersing the calices. In some of the deep valleys 

 the calices may be protidierant as thin, white, membranous but perforated cylinders visible 

 to the naked eye. The reticulum forms the substance of the coral except where stout 

 trabeculse have been developed. It is possible with a pocket lens to see down between the 

 trabeculae, so open and fragile is the coenenchyma. 



"There are two specimens of this coral which can, however, be fitted together, the 

 smaller being but a detached, jagged excrescence from the surface of the larger (see plate 

 xxvii). The two together show the luxuriance of the growth. It is worth noting that the 

 tubercles are especially developed on prominences and small branch-like lobes. This same 

 feature is seen also in M. hispida and 71/. irabeculata. As in this latter case, this peculiarity 

 accounts for the absence of the axial reticulum from the sections of broken knobs. 



"The type specimen has encrusted the dead remains of a former growth. This latter 

 appears also to have grown in the same irregular amorphous fashion. There is no trace of 



'Denksch. k. k. Akad. wiss. Wien., vol. 80, p. 62, plate 21, figure 70; plate 23, figure 70a, 1906. 



