282 DR. J. W. GREGORY ON THE TAL^ONTOLOGT [Aug. 1 895, 



but the earliest workers on the group did not perceive the necessity 

 of subdividing it. This was done by Lamarck in 1816 : he founded 

 three species, M. cervicornis, M. palmata, and M. prolifera. These 

 have been adopted by all later authors. In 1890 Heilprin and Ives 1 

 first suggested that the several species were probably only one. 

 Brook in 1893 went back to the pre-Lamarckian view and merged the 

 three best-known names of recent corals in Linnseus's original name. 

 The examination of the collection sent by Mr. Franks from Barbados 

 had led me previously to conclude that this course would have to be 

 adopted. Brook has given the detailed synonymy with care, 2 and 

 there is no need to repeat it. Duchassaing & Michelotti's type of 

 M. eihica is in Turin, and is clearly only a young encrusting form 

 of the variety prolifer a. The types of M. cornuta and M. Thomasiana 

 of the same authors could not be found in Turin, but the descriptions 

 given suggest that one may safely follow Brook in reducing them to 

 synonyms. 



In regard to the recent distribution of the species, it is to be 

 noted that Brook has recently widened it lay identifying as this 

 some specimens from Singapore, Australia, Tahiti, and Thursday 

 Island. I have examined most of these and cannot see any point 

 by which they could be separated from the West Indian species. In 

 such a genus as Madrepora it appears, however, probable that the 

 Pacific and Malaysian species has been developed independently. 

 Phylogenetically it probably ought not to be included in the West 

 Indian species, though the two are now indistinguishable one from 

 the other. 



Family POBITIDJE. 



Genus Porttes, Lamarck, 1816. 



Species 1. Porites clavaria, Lamarck, 1816. 



Synonymy : — ■ 



Madrepora porites, Pallas, 1766, 'Elench. Zooph.' pp. 324-326; Linnaeus, 1767, 

 ' Syst. Nat.' ed. xii. p. 1279 ; Ellis & Solander, 1786, ' Nat. Hist. Zooph.' p. 172, pi. xlvii. 

 figs. 1, 2 ; Esper, 1789, ' Pflanzenth.' Bd. i. pp. 135-139, pi. Madrep. xxi., xxi. a ; 

 Gmelin, 1790, ' Syst. Nat.' ed. xiii. p. 3774 ; Lamarck, 1801, ' Syst. Anim. s. Vert.' 

 p. 371 ; Schweigger, 1820, ' Handb. Naturg.' p. 413. 



Porites clavaria, Lamarck, 1816, ' Hist. Nat. Anim. s. Vert.'t. ii. p. 270 ; Lesueur, 

 1820, ' Polyp. Larnell.' Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat. t. vi. pp. 289-290, pi. xvii. fig. 17 ; 

 Lamouroux, 1821, ' Exp. Meth.' p. 61, pi. xlvii. figs. 1, 2 ; Deslongchamps. 1824, 

 Encyl. Meth., ' Zooph.' p. 652 ; Blainville, 1826, Diet. Sci. Nat. t. xliii. p. 50 ; id. 1830, 

 ibid. t. lx. p. 361 ; id. 1834, ' Man. Act.' p. 396. 



Porites clavaria, var. y, Ehrenberg, 1834, ' Cor. roth. Meer.' Abh. k. Akad. Wiss. 

 Berlin, 1832, p. 341. 



Porites clavaria, Dana, 1848, ' Zooph. Explor. Exped. Wilkes,' vol. viii. p. 554 ; Du- 

 chassaing, 1850, 'Anim. rad. Ant.' p. 17 ; M. -Edwards & Haime, 1851, ' Monogr. Porit.' 

 Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. ser. 3, t. xvi. p. 26 ; iid. 1860, ' Hist. Nat. Cor.' t. iii. p. 174 ; 

 Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1861, ' Mem. Cor. Ant.' Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Tor. ser. 2, 

 t. xix. p. 358 ; Verrill, 1864, ' List of Corals,' Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. i. p. 42 ; 

 Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1866, ' Suppl. Mem. Cor. Ant.' Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Tor. 

 ser. 2, t. xxiii. p. 189 ; Duchassaing, 1870, ' Rev. Zooph. Ant.' p. 32 ; Pourtales, 1871, 

 ' Deep-Sea Corals,' 111. Cat. Mus. Comp. Zool. no. iv. p. 84 ; Lindstrom, 1877, ' Act. Atl.' 

 Handl. k. Svensk. Vet.-Akad. Bd. xiv. no. 6, p. 24 ; Pourtales, 1880, ' Flor. Reefs,' Mem. 



1 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. 1890, p. 304. 



2 G-. Brook, ' Catalogue of the Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum,' 

 vol. i. 'The Genus Madrepora' 1893, pp. 23-25. 



