26 



DE. G. C. BOTJllNE OlST 



Some New and Rare Corals from Funafuti. 

 By G. C. BouEKE, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



[Read 4th December, 1902.] 

 (Plates 5 & 6.) 



Professor Judd has kindly sent me for examination two 

 species o£ Turbiuolid corals and one specimen of an Oculinid 

 coral, dredged from a depth, of 200 fathoms off Tutanga, during 

 the recent expedition to Funafuti. 



The Oculinid coral, of which only a small fragment was 

 obtained, is undoubtedly Lopholielia tenuis, Moseley. So far as 

 I am able to determine, only one specimen of this species has 

 previously been recorded, and that was dredged by the 

 ' Challenger ' from a depth of 375 fathoms between Panglao 

 and Siquijor Islands in the Philippines. The species is dis- 

 tinguished from L. arbuscula by the distinct costse ornamented 

 with longitudinal rows of minute granules, which run down 

 to the basis of the calicles. As Professor Moseley * lamented 

 the inaccuracy of the figure which accompanied his description 

 of this species, I have given in PI. 5. fig. 1 an enlarged photo- 

 graph of the specimen from Funafuti, but the enlargement 

 is not sufficient to show the characteristic granulated costae. 

 My specimen is smaller than Moseley's, the length of each 

 calyele being 3 mm., and the diameter of the mouths of the 

 largest calycles does not exceed 2 mm. 



Of the seven Turbiuolid corals sent to me, two are pedunculate 

 and five are free forms. They all have two circlets of paH 

 of unequal sizes, unequal and highly exsert septa, arranged 

 in six systems and four cycles. They belong, therefore, to the 

 subfamily TrocliocyatJiacecB, as defined by M.-Edwards and 

 Haime and subsequently re-modelled by Duncan. I was at 

 first inclined to believe that the pedunculate specimens were the 

 nurse-stocks from which the free forms had been liberated, but 

 closer inspection revealed such differences in the costse and the 

 granulations on the surfaces of the septa, as to leave no doubt 

 that they belong to distinct species. 



The pedunculate specimens must be placed in the genus 

 Trocliocyathus, as they agree exactly with Milne-Edwards and 



* H. N. Moseley, ' Challenger ' Eeports, Zoology, vol. ii. 1881. 



