242 



NOTES ON THE DISCOVERY OF A LARgE MASS OF LIVING 



coral in gulf st. vincent, with bibliographical 

 references to the recent corals of south 

 Australia. 



By Walter Howchin, F.G.S., Lecturer in Geology and 

 Palaeontology in the University of Adelaide. 



[Read July 6, 1909.] 



Plate XVI. 



In the recent piveliminary survey of the seafloor for the 

 construction of a breakwater at Glenelg, a mass of coral of 

 unprecedented size in South Australian waters was discov- 

 ered. The corallum was oval in outline (divided into three 



-'-*^T!il 



Fig. 1. — Sketch showing Elevation of Corallum. 



main lobes), 7 ft. long, 4 ft. 6 in. broad, and 3 ft. 6 in. 

 high (see figs. 1 and 2). Its location was about half a mile 

 south-west of Glenelg Jetty, and grew on a sandy bottom at 

 a depth of 13 ft. below low- water level. The contractors for 

 the work, with an eye to utility, had sawn the mass into 

 blocks with the intention of burning it for lime. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. W. Jones, the Secretary of 

 Public Works, and also to Captain Weir, the master of the 

 s.s. "Governor Musgrave," for kindly calling my attention to 

 this interesting discovery and supplying me liberally with 

 specimens. 



The condition of the corallum, as a whole, bore evidence 

 of great age, and was in a state of decadence, which presaged 

 approaching death. The greater part of the mass which came 

 under my observation was already dead. Some portions, ap- 

 parently, had been dead for a considerable time, as the cali- 

 cular surface was entirely obscured by parasitic growths ; and 

 other portions, although free from such growths, were in a 



