532 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



Millepora nodosa, JEsper. 

 ,, tortuosa, Dana. 



Distichopora rosea, Kent. 

 Physalia megalista, Lamarck. 



Class SCYPHOZOA. 



Aurelia clausa, Lesson. 

 Polyrhiza orithyia, Haeckel. 



Class ACTINOZOA. 



The following list of Actinozoa is compiled from different sources 

 under the supervision of Mr. Whitelegge, whose papers in this 

 volume (pp. 213 - 225, 307 - 320, 349 - 368, and 384 - 391) have 

 formed the basis. With these have been incorporated information 

 from the articles of J. S. Gardiner and I. L. Hiles.* 



In some prefatory notes to the Mollusca, it was remarked that 

 the high proportion of novelties to the mass of previously known 

 forms should not be mistaken for an indication of endemic impor- 

 tance, but should be ascribed to the imperfection of our knowledge 

 of the continental faunas. This statement has received support 

 from the Gorgonidse in the brief time that has elapsed since it was 

 written. Keroeides gracilis has been retaken by Willey in New 

 Guinea, Villogorgia rubra by Willey in the Loyalty Islands, 

 Acamptogogia spinosa by Willey in New Britain, Lobophytum 

 hedleyi and L. densurn by Hedley in New Caledonia. 



Some giant specimens of a white Sea Anemone, ten inches in 

 diameter, were observed on Funafuti, but defied any effort to 

 remove them and are hence unnoted in the following list. 



The specific identification of Reef Corals is regarded by the 

 highest authorities as a matter of extreme uncertainty. H. M. 

 Bernard wrote : " The only specimens which can be claimed with 

 absolute certainty as specifically identical are a few which have 

 in each case been gathered at the same place and time, and resemble 

 one another as closely as if they were two fragments of one and 

 the same stock. Beyond these no certainty exists, and strict 

 regard to the variations of form and structure would compel us to 

 label all the remaining specimens as different varieties or species."! 

 To maintain such a position means chaos. Either we must, as 

 Bernard proceeds to suggest, " break loose from the restraint of 

 the Linnean species," or deal with the group on the broader lines 

 on which Hickson has lately dealt with the Heliopora and 



* Gardiner Proc. Zool. Soc., 1897, pp. 941 - 953; Idem 1898, pp. 257 - 

 276,525-539, and 994-1000; Hiles, in Willey, Zoological Results, 

 part 2, 1899, pp. 195 - 204. 



t Bernard Cat. Madreporarian Corals Brit. Mus.. 1896, p. 20. 



