484 ME. C. W. PEACH ON BRITISH POLTZOA. 



opinion ; I quote only the following : — " Tubularia tt^uncata has 

 been described as heinff branched, which it never truly is; but 

 two or three individuals may grow on a primary polypidum so 

 closely together that they coalesce at the base, and dying, new 

 corals rise from the dead individuals, and thus give the polypidum 

 a branched or nodulous aspect ... It is a solid coral." 



Forbes's specimens were about two tenths of an inch in height, 

 ftiine never more than five tenths of an inch. 



The cells are all nearly of the same shape and radiate in the 

 same manner as seen in D. stellata, are more polished, and alto- 

 gether the walls are much thicker ; in fact the polypidom is alto- 

 gether so, it never rises into branch-like forms, nor do the largest 

 cells on the upper part of the ridges become truncated. I have 

 seen four low rounded tips side by side on the earliest base : the 

 base is thin, and at first slightly pitted and firmly attached to the 

 stone ; it soon becomes strongly reticulated and met by a raised 

 step-like ridge, in the vertical front of which are groups of rather 

 large and tall cells, three or four in a group, forming a lace-like 

 border, crenulated on the upper part, and from these crenulations 

 spring the thirteen or fourteen rounded rib-like rows of cells 

 which run up to near the top, where they die out and leave a 

 slight depression. From the broad thin base and the pretty 

 sweep the ribs take, with the rounded top, I am reminded of the 

 round-polled hat so fashionable ever since the late Prince Albert 

 wore a miner's " hat-cap " when with the Queen in the under- 

 ground workings of the Eoyal Eestormal Iron-Mine, at Lost- 

 withiel, Cornwall. I may mention that this species is much rarer 

 than the next and, as far as I have seen, found only on stones. The 

 one figured by Forbes was also on a stone. It occurs to me that 

 some may think that the dwarfed state, thick walls, rounded ribs, 

 and total absence of the truncated crown of vertical cells of this 

 species might be caused by the stones being rolled about in storms 

 or by tides. Such, I am convinced, could not be ; for in addition 

 to the Domopora, I got from the same stones my finest and best 

 examples of Eschara cervicornis, and most beautiful examples of 

 Sornera borealis, all in a most perfect state, with every branch 

 intact, proving tranquillity in their home. 



Domopora (Defranceia) stellata (Groldf.). — This beautiful species 

 has been confounded with the true Domopora truncata of Jameson, 

 Forbes, and Fleming. It is certainly nearest to Fleming's description, 



