﻿TUBERCULATE MONTIPOR^. 119 



pronounced and crowded on one side of the coral than on the other. Where the caHcles are 

 very crowded in the hollows, the interstices well up above the level of the calicles as a delicate, 

 very open and friable reticulum. 



The type of this coral consists of two fragments which were unlabelled, and which are seen 

 fitted together in PI. XXI. fig. 5. The tips of two branches of a Madrepore have been 

 touched, and partially incorporated in the coral substance. The specimen is, as far as I know, 

 quite unique ; unfortunately there is no record of its locality. 



a. Locality not recorded. [Register No. 97. 10. 9. 1.] (Type.) 



96. Montipora incrustans. 

 Montipora incrmtans, Briiggemann, Abh. Naturw. Ver. Bremen, 2, v. (1877) p. 398. 



Bescription. — Corallum explanate with uneven surface, creeping over foreign objects as a 

 thin layer with free edges. Epitheca in irregular patches. The thickness varies from 

 5 to 15 mm. 



Calicles completely immersed, very small, ■ 3 mm. in diameter, distant from one another 

 about one and a half diameters. Two cycles of septa, well developed primaries twice as long as 

 secondaries. The calicles on the under side are much more visible and are surrounded by 

 fine, thin, ccenenchymatous rings. The ccenenchyma is a rather loose reticulum, and the upper 

 surface is covered by delicate pointed processes (tubercles) which make it look hairy or 

 velvety. The under surface is smooth and reticulate. 



This is the substance of Bruggemann's description of the type- specimen from Mauritius 

 preserved in the Jena Museum. He quotes also a note of the collector, that this coral is a 

 " reef-builder." This specimen was claimed by Ortmann * as belonging to M. tuherculosa, 

 Lamarck. (See, however, p. 112.) 



There is one specimen in the National Collection from Rodriguez which was identified 

 by Briiggemann himself as belonging here.t It is but a small fragment from a free edge, 

 some 5 cm. deep and 4 • 5 cm. wide, 3 mm. thick at the edge, and reaching about 6 mm. in the 

 thickest part. It is, however, fairly typical of the method of growth described. A few 

 characters to be added to the above are (1) the streaming layer tends to be laminate, and 

 towards the growing edge where it comes to the surface it twists up in jagged flakes ; 

 (2) these flame-like processes gradually pass into the regular tubercles with their submerged 

 portions (trabeculte). The tubercles are very irregular in size and grouping — here and there 

 bunched together, and tall — but showing no conspicuous ring formation round the calicles. In 

 section the trabeculse are often thick and crowded, and rest upon a coarse reticular streaming 

 layer. On the under surface an epitheca develops in patches, and may be partly grown over 

 by protrusions of light reticulate ccenenchyma full of calicles. These frequently protrude, 

 even opening at the top of crater-like cones or cylindrical tubes. 



a. Rodriguez. Royal Society. 



* Zool. Jahrb., iv. Syst. (1889) p. 498. f ^ liil- Trans., clxviii. (1879) p. 577. 



