ME. H. M. BERNAED ON EECENT POEtTID^. 147 



in Porifes; while, on the other band, the columella-t;ingle with 

 the paliForm granules or rods rising from it, which are character- 

 istic of Pontes, are never seen in Montipora. 



Psammocora, Dana, is the last genus which Milne-Edwards 

 and Haime placed in their Montiporine subfamily of the Poritidae. 

 Dana, from a study of the living coral and on account of its 

 skeletal structure, placed it among the Fungidse. Its " trabe- 

 cular " structure, however, compelled Milue-Edwards and Haime 

 to transplant it. So far as I can see, beyond the granular inter- 

 rupted edges of the septa, which thus appear to be built up of 

 •' trabeculfB," this genus has no claim whatever to be classed 

 anywhere near Porites, and I agree with Dr. Klunzinger, who 

 replaces it among the Eungidse, in removing it from t!ie 

 Poritidae. 



Neoporites and Cosmoporites, Duchassaing and Miclielotti *. — 

 We can discuss these suggested genera together : the differences 

 between them are slight, and the real question is whether they 

 should be separated from Porites at all. The type of the sug- 

 gested Neoporites may be taken to be the West-Indian Porites 

 astrceoides, Lamarck, which, with a few other West-Indian forms, 

 differs from all the recorded Porites in having deeper calicles 

 and either no pali or else mere traces of them (" pallulis nuUis 

 vel subevanidis "). This absence of pali and greater depth of 

 fossa are certainly remarkable characteristics. But I find myself 

 compelled to agree with Dr. Briiggemann in claiming them to 

 be true Porites. On the one hand, it may be urged that 

 the pali are an essential characteristic of Porites and Cronio- 

 pora ; and here we have forms in which the pali have been 

 secondarily obscured or even suppressed ; hence the need for 

 establishing a new genus, and if so the name Neoporites is 

 most felicitous, because it betokens an advance on the main 

 genus ; further, all the forms which might be grouped as 

 Neoporites, and which have been so far described, occur in the 

 West Indies, i. e. they have a certain geographical unity which 

 greatly supports the structural evidence in favour of their 

 being a new generic development. On the other hand, I would 

 suggest that, if these specimens are removed from Porites 

 on account of the absence of pali, they should for the same 



* ' Coralliaires des Antilles,' Suppl. 1864. 



