﻿TUBERCULATE MONTIPOR^. 113 



Group v.— TTJBEBCULATE. 



a. Tubercles single. 



87. Montipora perforata. (PL XXI. fig. 3.) 

 Moniipom explanaia (partim), Briiggemann, Phil. Trans., clxviii. (1879) p. 577. 



Description.— GoTaRum closely encrusting (4 mm. thick), without free edges. 



Calicles conspicuous, • 75 mm. diameter ; the septa, in two cycles, hardly distinguishable 

 from one another, very minute, mere points projecting from the edge of the deep open fossa. 



Ccenenchyma shows in section a very coarse and dense but weakly developed streaming 

 layer, resting (as in most closely encrusting coraUa) directly on the epitheca ; from this layer 

 stout trabecule rise 2 to 3 mm., densely packed together, somewhat irregularly and often 

 very feebly united by junctions. These trabeculse rise above the surface as short tubercles, 

 which, without being bushy, are jagged and frayed out at the tips. They are about • 5 mm. 

 high, fairly uniform in size, and distributed over the whole surface. Immediately round the 

 caUcle aperture they may be a trifle taller or even fused to form a ring, but these features are 

 not conspicuous. 



These tuberculate Montipores from Rodriguez were united, as type specimens of M. expla- 

 naia, Briiggemann, with a purely glabrous specimen (which here retains the name ' explanata '). 

 The two species seem to me most obviously distinct. On account of the thick and rather 

 long trabecule projecting as very small undifferentiated tubercles, I was at first disposed to 

 imite these specimens with M. mammillata, but on revising the work concluded that there 

 was no ground for such union. 



The two specimens are dark brown in colour, and closely adhering to the corroded remains 

 of former growths. 



On account of the encrusting habit and the small development of the tubercles, this type 

 may well stand first in this group. 



The specific name applies to the aspect of the calicles as clear round holes like clean 

 punctures, the septal apparatus being visible only on close inspection. 



180 

 Qi (Types.) 



88. Montipora scahricula. 



Mampora scabricula, Dana, Zoophytes (1848) p. 502, pi. xlvi. fig. 3. 



Montipora scabricula, Milne-Edwards and Haime, Ann. d. Sci. Nat., (3°) xvi. (1851) p. 64. 



Non Montipora scabricula, Quelch, Chal. Rep., Reef Corals (1886) p. 177 {v. Montipora venosa). 



Description. — Corallum encrusting, glomerate, gibbous, with rounded eminences. The 

 margin thick and folded under. 



Calicles very minute, 0"30 to 0*40 mm., with six or twelve septa; in the latter case the 

 primaries are distinct. 



Q 



