Mr. S. O. Ridley on the Coral-fauna of Ceylon. 251 



material for the study of this subject ; and his interesting col- 

 lections show how well his energies have been directed. He 

 has liberally presented examples of many of the species below 

 enumerated to the British Museum, and has written an im- 

 portant note on the reefs, which is printed below. 



All the specimens collected by Dr. Ondaatje were obtained 

 on the southern coast, in the neighbourhood of Galle, except 

 where otherwise stated ; and they were obtained from the shore 

 or from shallow water, with the exception of the Antipatharia, 

 and the Echinogorgia and Menacella, which were obtained by 

 fishermen in their nets at depths said to amount to from 100 

 to 1 50 fathoms. 



Although, as might have been expected, the coral-fauna of 

 Ceylon has (he same general aspect as that of the other parts 

 of the Indian Ocean so far as it is known, and of the Red 

 Sea, having most of its known species in common with these 

 regions, yet it has peculiarities of its own — viz. one peculiar 

 (so far as is known at present) species of Cceloria and a 

 species of Pavonia, and one of Alcyoniurn \ in the latter two 

 cases the nearest known allies seem to be found in the Pacific. 

 These species are described for the first time in this paper. 

 A Stejyhanoseris described by Verrill is also not known except 

 from Ceylon, so far as I am aware. To sum up, in all we have 

 forty-eight or forty-nine species of corals known to occur in 

 Ceylon, of which four are at present not recorded from else- 

 where. 



The following is a list of all species which I know to have 

 been obtained at Ceylon; those not obtained by Dr. Ondaatje 

 are marked with a *. 



Subclass ZOANTHARIA. 



Order ALCYONARIA. 



Family Alcyoniidse. 



Alcyoniurn polydactylum, Ehrenberg, var. mamiUifera, 



Klunzinger. 



Alcyoniurn 2)oIi/dactyIiim,T£hreJibeTg,CoT. Eoth. Meer. p. 58 ; Klunzinger, 

 Korallenthiere Roth. Meer. p. 20, pi. i. fig. 6, b. 



Also found in the Red Sea (Klunzinger). 



Alcyoniurn submurale, n. sp. 



Upper surface horizontal, level, with the exception of low 

 ridges, which rise between the centre and the edge, gradually 

 increasing in height towards the latter, but not attaining an 

 altitude of more than an inch or two. Ridges about 6 millim. 



