240 PEOFESSOK P. M. DUNCAX ON THE 



ing to their order. The pali are single, tall, sharply granular, not incised ; and those 

 of the tertiary septa are short and most distinct 



Height 2^ inch ; breadth of calice ^ inch; 



Locality, No. 19 dredging, in the 2nd expedition of the ' Porcupine,' 248 fathoms. 



Tlie small columella, septal number, large pali, the approach of the higher order of 

 septa towards the next, and the costal structures separate this Paracyathus very readily. 

 It belongs to the group with unlobed pali, and is easily distinguished from Paracyathus 

 pulcliellus, Ed. & H., and Paracyathus strictus, Philippi. 



It differs from Paracyathus agassizi in the smallness of the calice, that of the last- 

 named coral being large and the pali bilobed. 



Paracyathus steiatus, Phil. (Plate XLIV. figs. 4-10.) 



In the memoir on the deep-sea corals (No. iv. lUustr. Cat. Harvard Coll. 1871), 

 Count Pourtales describes, with some hesitation, Paracyathus confertUrS, with costae 

 distinct to the base, not prominent and granular, calice oblong, concave ; septa 

 crowded, thin, entire, slightly exsert, in 5 cycles, but with considerable irregularity 

 in some of the systems. Pali numerous, and difficult to distinguish from the papillEe 

 of the columella ; and he notices that specimens from the Azores do not differ from 

 this form. In the description of the corals collected in the Hassler expedition, 

 1874, he notices (p. 38) that he has seen small specimens associated with his type 

 which resemble Paracyathus de filifjii, Duch. et Mich., of the West Indies ; and he 

 suspects them all to be of one species. With regard to the variation of the Paracyathi, 

 he observes: — "The characters are very variable — the type figured in my Deep-sea 

 Corals, pi. vi. figs. 11-13, passing into another with deeply sunk columella, the papillae 

 of which are partly twisted like those of a Caryophyllia or Trochocyathus, well-defined 

 pali rising much higher, more exsert septa, and a more regular shape. This latter 

 type is the most common at Bavbadoes, the other in Florida. The great variability of 

 these forms inclines me to believe that Paracyathus agassizi. Dune, can scarcely be 

 separated, especially from the West-Indian form." There is no doubt that the dif- 

 ficulty of discriminating the species of Paracyathus is very great ; but, as a rule, the 

 septal number, the size of the columella, the lobed or not lobed character of the pali, and 

 perhaps the costal development are visible early in the coral-growth. I would rather 

 therefore at present continue to maintaiir Paracyathus agassizi. The figure given by 

 Count Pourtales oi Paracyathus confertus shows distinctly the crowded septa with hardly 

 any interseptal loculi, a large columella, and perfectly well-formed bilobed pali. But in 

 the specimen which I received from him this character of the pali is not present, and 

 the columella is deeply seated, the septa being crowded. Probably, then, there is more 

 than one species of American Paracyathus with close septa. On comparing this last 

 specimen with those obtained in the expedition of H.M.S. ' Porcupine,' some of which 

 were figured in the former Memoir on Deep-sea Corals (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. viii. pt. v.), 



