﻿MONTIPOKA. 7 



clxxxvii. p. 388) places the subfamily Montiporinffi under the Madreporidse, in which family- 

 she would also include the AlveoporinES. 



The present work was begun in the autumn of 1895. The representatives of this genus 

 in the National Collection number some 450 specimens, most of which were hitherto either 

 unnamed or only provisionally named. The collection had been recently enriched by 

 specimens from different parts of the world : — From the China Seas, by Mr. Bassett-Smith, 

 Staff-Surgeon E.N. ; from the Great Barrier Eeef and from West Australia, by Mr. W. Saville- 

 Kent ; from Tongatabu, by Mr. J. J. Lister ; and from Diego Garcia, by Mr. G. C. Bourne. 

 Further, the collection made by Professor A. C. Haddon (in the Torres Straits) was also added 

 when the volume was advanced towards completion. In the literature there were 64 specific 

 names of recorded types ; of eleven of these latter the original specimens belonged to the 

 National Collection, viz. those named by Briiggemann, Quelch, and certain duplicates 

 of Dr. Klunzinger's collection which had been named by himself. After allowing for the 

 suppression of names which appear to be synonymous, the genus, as here dealt with, contains 

 about 135 types,* of which 81 are recorded as new. A brief statement of the morphological 

 results obtained by the author in the course of this work, was published in the Ann. and 

 ' Mag. Nat. Hist, for August 1897. 



II. THE LIVING POLYP AND ITS ANATOMY. 



. Dana (' Zoophytes,' p. 490) notes that the polyps of the genus have twelve short tentacles 

 forming a narrow margin to the oral disc ; in some species they are mere crenulations of the 

 disc. Among other colours, Hlac, green, and yellow are mentioned, and the disc is often 

 marked with radiating lines or spots of different shades. 



Mr. Saville-Kent, in ' The Great Barrier Eeef,' pp. 184 and 185, describes the very 

 minute size of the polyps and the mostly " rudimentary " character of the tentacular elements, 

 which may be merely inflated papillse. These bulbous tentacles are shown in four coloured 

 drawings representing the general aspect in the living state of fragments from specimens of 

 foiu- species [" M. scabricula (appr.)," " M. foliosa," " M. expansa (appr.)," and " M. verrucosa "]. 

 In each case, an enlarged figure of an expanded polyp is also shown. 



As far as I am aware, nothing is known of the anatomy of these degenerate, or, more 

 correctly, stunted polyps and of their connecting soft parts. 



in. MORPHOLOGY. 



The youngest colony that I have found is a small nearly circular plate (3 mm. in diam.), 

 composed of a saucer-like epitheca with raised edges and fiUed up by ccenenchyma, on the 

 surface of which the polyp cavities open. The largest polyp near the centre of the colony 

 may be assumed to have been the parent. It stands highest and is surrounded by an irregular 



* A study of the Montipores in the Continental museums, at present only provisionally classified, 

 would considerably increase this number. 



