1898.] ON THE PEEFOBATE CORALS OP THE SOUTH PACIFIC. 257 



the future a very considerable reduction in the species of this 

 genus will also be necessary. Madrejpora itself is a genus with a 

 very wide geographical distribution in shallow tropical waters, 

 like Millepora. Its coralla are also subject to extraordinary varia- 

 bility iu their form of growth, and the species have been founded 

 on skeletal characters only. All the species, or many of them, may 

 be good, but the classification of the genus must be considered 

 to be unsatisfactory untU our knowledge of the anatomy of the 

 polyps of the different varieties has been considerably extended. 



2. On the Perforate Corals collected by the Author in the 

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

 Gonville and Caius College^ Cambridge. 



[Eeceived January 31, 1898.] 

 (Plates XXIII. & XXIV.) 



Of the Perforate Corals obtained by me in the South Pacific 

 I have been able to refer specimens to fifty-one species ; of these 

 fifteen seem to me to be new. Three of these have already been 

 described by Mr. Bernard in the British Museum Catalogue, and 

 the characters of twelve are now given. I have so far as possible 

 compared my specimens with those in the British Museum, and, 

 although I have referred back to the original descriptions in nearly 

 all cases, I give, for those genera of which the Museum has 

 published a catalogue, simply one reference, namely to that cata- 

 logue, by placing the number of the species in it after the name 

 in parentheses. 



I am much indebted to Mr. Bernard for his assistance in 

 comparing the Astrceopora and Turbinaria, and for writing the 

 description of Montipora columnans. Prof. Jeffrey Bell, too, has 

 kindly placed at my disposal every facility which the British 

 Museum afEords. 



I. Genus Madbepoea. 



Madrepora Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. x. p. 793 ; Duncan, Eev. 

 Madrep. p. 183. 



The specimens of this genus in the collection are generally 

 rather small, most of them having been obtained by diving or 

 dredging. I have been able to refer specimens to 25 species, and 

 in addition I have described 3 which I consider new. Prom 

 Funafuti there are also fragments of two species from 30 fathoms, 

 two from 20 f., and five from 6-8 f. : of these, four species seem 

 to be new, but they are too small to attempt to describe. There 

 are, too, a number of young colonies unidentified. 



Generally, on the reefs of Eotuma and Funafuti I found that, 

 although certain species are locally very common, there is little 



' Communicated by W. Bateson, F.E.S., F.Z.S. 



Peoc. Zool. Soc— 1898, No. XVII. 17 



