828 PROF. S. J. HICKSOX ON SPECIMENS [T\OV. 15, 



8. Notes on the Collection of Specimens of the Genus 

 Millepora obtained by Mr. Stanley Gardiner at Funafuti 

 and Rotuma. By Professor Sydney J. Hickson, M.A., 

 F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived October 4, 1898.] 



This collection consists of a dozen large di'ied coralla and several 

 smaller pieces and fragments, together with nearl_y three dozen 

 pieces of difEerent forms of growth preserved in spirit. 



As I have already pointed out in a communication to this Society, 

 there is no reason to suppose that there is more than one species 

 of this genus, but there are nevertheless several characters of 

 interest presented by specimens from different coral-reefs which 

 are deserving of record. I propose to use the term " Facies " for the 

 general form of growth of the specimens described, and to i-etain 

 as far as possible under this term the names previously used for 

 species. 



I. The dried Coralla. 



MiLLEPOBA ALCICOBIflS L. 



Facies " raniosa." 



There are several specimens in the collection which under the 

 old system would have been placed in the species Millepora ramosa 

 Pall. 



The principal features of this facies are that the branches are 

 thick and usually cylindrical, anastomosing freely below, but having 

 at the extremities a number of free obtusely pointed branches. 



One of the most interesting specimens of this facies was 

 obtained at the S. entrance in Funafuti, at a depth of 7 fathoms. 

 The stem divides into branches in a vertical plane, which freely 

 anastomose, forming a wide-meshed network 10 inches in height. 

 The main stem is nearly an inch in diameter and the principal 

 branches of it are on an average | an inch in diameter. 



The colour of the corallum is pale yellow. There are no para- 

 sitic barnacles on any of the branches of this specimen, but the 

 Gastropod, CalUostoma similaris (Reeve), and the Pelecypod, Avicula 

 formosa (Reeve), were found adhering to the specimen. 



The genus Millepora being regarded as an essentially shallow- 

 water form, collectors rarely give the depth at which their 

 specimens were obtained, and we have in consequence very little 

 information concerning its bathymetrical range. 



Tenison-Woods says that Millepora undulosa occurs in 20 fathoms 

 in Foveaux Straits, Moore and Smith found living M. i-atnosa 

 in 15 fathoms, and Gardiner obtained the specimens liere recorded 

 in 7 fathoms '. These are the only statements I can find giving a 

 definite range beyond low-tide mark. 



1 Mr. Gardiner's notes on the localities of the facies "ramosa" are as 

 follows : — " It grows very abundantly immediately outside the deep channels 

 to the S.E. and N. W. of the Atoll Funafuti. I also obtained it oflf Pa-ra. In the 



