734 MB. J. STAISTLEY GARDINER ON [June 6, 



Unfortiiuately the abdominal cavity had not been opened before 

 the fish Avas handed over to me, and in consequence of this, on 

 removing the wall of the left side, 1 found that the viscera were 

 by no means in such a satisfactory state of preservation as could 

 have been desired, various of the organs being in a soft and decom- 

 posing condition. The stomach, which was attached to the dorsal 

 wall of the abdomen by a broad peritoneal fold, possessed the 

 ordinary siphonal form. The proximal portion was very capacious, 

 thin-walled, and marked on the internal surface with numerous 

 regularly disposed longitudinal rugae. It was entirely empty of 

 food. The distal moiety, comparatively long and narrow, was not 

 clearly rounded ofE externally from the first portion of the in- 

 testinal tract, which was separated from the colon by a well-marked 

 constriction succeeded by a short thick-walled dilatation. The 

 colon possessed a typical transverse spiral valve. The short rectum 

 had appended to it a well-marked rectal gland. 



The liver consisted of a pair of apparently equal-sized large 

 flattened lobes tapering to their pointed posterior ends. The spleen, 

 of a dark greyish hue, was triangular in general form, with the 

 apex pointing backward from the junction of the proximal and 

 distal portions of the stomach and sent a long narrow lobe along 

 the latter. The pancreas was of a whitish-yellow colour ; in respect 

 of outline it was long, slender, and band-like, and was provided 

 with a long duct which opened into the intestine near its 

 commencement. 



The ovaries, very imperfectly pi'eserved, formed a pair of elon- 

 gated, somewhat lobulated bodies of a yellow colour, and the oviducts 

 were of comparatively wide diameter. 



Nothing could be made out with sufficient certainty as regards 

 the nature of the other viscera. 



3. On the Astrseid Corals collected, by the Author in the 

 South Pacific. By J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A., 

 F.Z.S., Fellow of Gonville and Cains College, Cam- 

 bridge. 



[Eeceived April 26tb, 1899.] 

 (Plates XLVI.-XLIX.) 



The Corals of the family Astraeidse are represented in the collec- 

 tion made in the South Pacific by 115 specimens, which I have 

 referred to 12 genera and 48 species. Of these I have described 6 

 species as new, and I have redescribed many of the known species, 

 or added such characters as I have found of practical value for 

 separating the different species of the several genera. 



I have found the work very arduous on account of the very 

 numerous synonyms existing, not only for species but also 

 for genera. Martin Duncan's " Revision of the Madreporaria " 



