74 



May 22, 1849. 

 Harpur Gamble, Esq., M.D., in the Chair. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Description of some Corals, including a new British 



Coral discovered by W. MacAndrew, Esa. 



By J. E. Gray, Esa., F.R.S. etc. 



(Radiata, PI. II.) 



As yet only a single living species of recent stony coral has been 

 recorded as inhabiting our coast. I am aware that M. Milne-Edwards 

 and M. Haime have described the Torbay coral as belonging to two 

 species and to different genera, viz. DesmophyUum Stokesii, Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. ix. 255. t. 7 ■ f. 12, 12 a, and Cyathina Smithii, 1. c. ix. 288 ; but 

 from the varieties in form, and especially in the contraction of the 

 base, which I have seen in specimens on the same stone, I believe 

 the genera and species have been established on very unessential cha- 

 racters. 



I may state, that from the observations I have been able to make, I 

 believe that the recent corals are very much more influenced by ex- 

 ternal circumstances, by the rarity or the abundance of food that the 

 animals are able to procure, and by the roughness or quietness of the 

 water they happen to inhabit, and the stations they may accidentally 

 occupy, than the describers of corals even the most recent are willing 

 to allow. This greatly added to the difficulty of distinguishing the 

 species ; and if this is the case with the recent corals which we receive 

 in a good state, how much more difficult must it be to distinguish 

 those only found in a fossil, and often in a worn and imperfect con- 

 dition ! 



The British coral here noticed is perfectly distinct from the former, 

 and from any European coral that has come under my examination ; 

 and when I showed it to M. Milne-Edwards and M. Haime on their 

 late visit to this comitry, they stated that it was quite unknown to 

 them, and most nearly allied to an Australasian species. It belongs 

 to the genus Flabellmn, established by the late M. Lesson in his 

 ' Illustrations of Zoology' in 1831 for a coral from the Japanese Seas. 

 And more lately (in 1841) Dr. A. Philippi established a genus under 

 the name of Phyllodes for some fossil allies. Dana, in his work on 

 Zoophytes in 1846, has applied the name oi Euphyllia to this genus. 

 Quoy and Gaimard referred one of the species to the genus Turbi- 

 nolia. 



The only specimen of the coral found by Mr. MacAndrew is un- 

 fortunately in an imperfect state, having been broken by the dredge, 

 and I have some doubts if it absolutely belongs to the genus Fla- 

 bellum, as it appears rather to form a more or less circular expanded 

 disk, than a compressed wedge-shaped body. But Messrs. Milne- 

 Edwards and Haime appeared to have no doubt of its belonging to 



