Mr Gardiner, Notes on Variation, Protandry, etc. 463 



Some Notes on Variation and Protandry in Flabellum rubrum, 

 and Senescence in the same and other Corals. By J. Stanley 

 Gardiner, M.A., Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. 



[Bead 19 May 1902.] 



Contents. 



Collections examined. — The genus Blastotrochus. — Discontinuous variation in 

 Flabellum rubrum. — Protandry in the same (formation of testes, replace- 

 ment by ovaries, escape of ova, and formation of fresh ova). — Senescence 

 in F. rubrum. — Coenopsammia willeyi from the Maldives. — Madrepora 

 pulcra from Rotuma. — Other instances from the Maldives. — Consideration 

 of death in the Madreporaria (senescence, death of single species over 

 large areas, and comparison with the bamboo). 



About a year ago I received for determination some hundreds 

 of specimens of Flabellum from the Biological Department of the 

 South African Museum, Cape Town. Of these eight belong to 

 F. pavoninum, while the remainder — over 500 in number — are 

 referable to F. rubrum, of which F. cumingii, elongatum, crassum, 

 crenulatum, elegans, spheniscum, profundum, irregulare and trans- 

 versale are synonyms. Mr Forster Cooper and I also dredged 

 a number of specimens in the Maldives, which mostly — being 

 especially carefully preserved — have been used in the subsequent 

 part of this investigation. Further, for the species, I have with 

 the assistance of Prof. Jeffrey Bell and Mr H. M. Bernard examined 

 the British Museum collection. 



The account of the species, anatomy, and development of the 

 Cape of Good Hope collection of Flabellum forms the subject of 

 a memoir, in the press, among the " Marine Investigations in South 

 Africa," published by the Department of Agriculture of the Cape 

 Colony. These Notes form a supplement to that paper, founded 

 on a renewed investigation of special points in my Maldivan and 

 in the British Museum specimens in addition to those from the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



Semper procured specimens of F. rubrum in the Philippines, 

 and described them in 1872 under the name of F. irregulare 1 . 

 He dredged his specimens in the Lapinig Channel, off Bohol, in 

 the centre of the group from 6 — 10 fathoms. With them were 

 also obtained a large number of specimens of F. stokesi — described 



1 Zeit. fur wiss. Zool., Bd. xxn., pp. 242—245, PI. xxvi., figs. 7—17. 



