189S.] OF MILLEPOBA FROM FITNAFUTI AND EOTUMA. 829 



Some doubt may be felt as to whether the coral collected by 

 Tenison- Woods was really a Millepora. The descriptiou given of 

 it is not sufficiently detailed to give great confidence in the belief 

 that a Millepore exists in deep water so far south as the Eoveaux 

 Straits ; but there can be no doubt whatever about the other two 

 statements ; and it is interesting to note that in both cases in which 

 Millepores have been dredged at a depth well below low-water 

 mark, i. e. in places where the growth in height cannot be limited 

 by exposure to the air, the facies is "ramosa." Moseley says that 

 M. rcnnosa " appears to thrive best in the shade "\ 



The yellow colour of the coralluin of the Funafuti specimens 

 from 7 fathoms is in accordance with the statement made by 

 Forskll that the species M. dirhotoma " inhabitat profundum," and 

 is of a " color tlavicans," M. dichofoma being regarded as a synonym 

 of M. ramosa by some authors. But the yellow colour is not con- 

 lined to deep-water forms, nor to forms of this facies, for Moseley 

 says that the Millejiora nodosa from Tahiti, found in one or two 

 feet of water, is of a bright yellow colour, and Mr. Gardiner tells 

 me that a species coloured orange-brown was fairly common on 

 one shoal to the windward side of the lagoon at Funafuti. It is 

 possible, however, that the white bleached coralla occurring on 

 many reefs are confined to the shallow water and that in a few 

 fathoms of depth all the Millepores are naturally yellow. 



There is another piece of corallum in Mr. Gardiner's collection 

 which must be included in this facies, which is of interest as being 

 found in shallow water and showing a flattening and expansion of 

 the branches, which if it were carried a little further would lead to 

 the foi-mation of plates. Millepores living in very shallow water 

 cannot grow to more than a certain height, and their growth 

 upwards is checked and stopped by the low tides. It is probable 

 that a lateral expansion of the branches follows any check to the 

 growth given to the distal extremities, and that ultimately the 

 broadened branches fuse together to form lamellae or plates. 



The diameter of the mouth of the gastropores on a medium- 

 sized branch of this form is, on taking an average of 12, found to 

 be 0-276 mm. 



Facies ^'- esperi." 



A specimen in the collection 6| inches in height, springing from 

 a basis 2| inches x 7 inches, from shallow water, S. passage, Main 

 Island, Funafuti, agrees most closely "with the description given of 

 Millepora esperi by Duchassaing and Michelotti. The form of 

 the corallum is not unlike that assumed by large specimens of 



lagoon it occurs only uear the deep channela. It occurred in 7 fathoms of water 

 off the entrance betweeu Falefatu and Mateika." Mr. Gardiner alsn believes 

 that he obtained small pieces of Millepora in 20 fathoms off the N. entrance 

 near Pava, and in 30 fathoms off Falefatu ; but as there is jusL a possibility that 

 the pieces observed may have remained sticking to the swab from a previous 

 dredging, be does not wish me to consider the evidence to be conclusive. 

 ^ H. N. Moseley, " Notes of a Naturalist on the ' Challenger,' " p. 27. 



