MADEEPOEAEIA OF THE DEEP SEA. 30S 



terranean coral fauna, should not have been obtained by the dredge and tangles. Some 

 of them are dwellers in moderately deep water, and have been noticed by Forbes and 

 Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime. On the other hand it is satisfactory to have obtained 

 so many specimens of certain rare corals that the doubts about their classificatory 

 position could be solved by subjecting a few to transverse and longitudinal section. 



The results of this procedure, with respect to LophoJielia iirolifera, Pallas, sp., and 

 AmpldlieUa oculata, Linnaeus, are very damaging to the integrity of the family of the 

 Oculinidse ; for, as the corallites of these species do not fill up from within, they can no 

 longer be separated from the AstraeidaJ. Moreover longitudinal sections of the corallum 

 of specimens of the first-named species show dissepiments and large tabulee ; and thus 

 the propriety of establishing a section of the Madreporaria which shall be differentiated 

 by these perfect transverse floors of endotheca is strongly contra-indicated. 



The specimens obtained in both of the expeditions of the ' Porcupine' can be arranged 

 into forty-eight groups, consisting of species and varieties — i. e. twenty-seven species and 

 twenty-one varieties. There are, amongst these, fourteen new species, twelve species 

 already described, and one incertm sedis. The varieties consist of four the typical 

 forms of which are not present in the collection, and of seventeen which accompany the 

 specific types also. 



Owing to the extraordinary variability of some of the corals, I have been able, by 

 comparing them with the descriptions and types of closely allied recognized species, 

 to absorb several specific forms, and in two instances to treat genera so. Thus I have 

 absorbed the genus Ceratocyathus in the older genus Caryo])hyllia, and Thecopsammia 

 in BalanophyUia. 



The species Caryophyllia horealis, Fleming, and C. smithi, Stokes, I have made varieties 

 of the older type Caryophyllia claims, Scacchi. The Sphenotrochus intermedins, Ed. & 

 H., of the Crag and Tangier Bay, and Sphenotrochus milletianus, Defrance, are varieties 

 of the same type. Two species of Besmophyllmn are absorbed into the species crista- 

 galli ; and its range, therefore, is enlarged. No less than seven species and two genera 

 must now be aggregated in the Amphihelia ramea of Miiller; and three if not four 

 species of Lophohelice should be associated with the species prolifera and its variety 

 gracilis. 



At least fourteen old species have been thus absorbed, and, it is trusted, not to the 

 detriment of truth or of a true classificatory philosophy. 



The following is the list of the Madreporaria dredged up in the two expeditions of 

 the ' Porcupine ' : — 



2x2 



