ON THE ANATOMY OF DISTICHOPORA. 53 
2. Distichopora gracilis. Dana. Reddish ; more slender than the 
violacea, ramulous ; branchlets one-third as broad, at summit about 
a third of a line. Plate 60, fig. 4, corallum natural size; fig. 5, a 
variety(?)naturalsize; 5a5b, viewsenlarged. Paumotu, Archipelago. 
Dana makes no further remark. It is rather singular 
that Milne-Edwards, in his Hist. Nat. des Corallaires, in 
which he refers to almost every coral and every author on corals 
known, makes no reference to this singular genus, nor to the 
observations of Pallas, Lamarck, or Ellis, except in the ap- 
pendix, including it in the sub-class Cnidiares, or corals imperfectly 
or the affinities of which are doubtful. is observations 
are as follow :—Genus Distichopora. “ Lamarck has established 
this genus for a very singular polypiary, which Pallas had de- 
ibed under the name of Millepora violacea, but which is known 
in only a very imperfect manner. The soft parts of this zoophyte 
Madreporaria, and in effect it has some points of resemblance with 
the Favosites, but in other respects it is very remote, and appears 
have more analogy with the Aleyonaria. s 
dendroid habit, and is composed of almost cylindrical branches, 
somewhat twi nodulous, outspread on a vertical plane, 
and which presents, on the e plane at each side, a groov 
(Zoophytes, pl. 85, fig. 46), After being raised in an almost 
ne t line, these cellules curve from both sides, so as to repre- 
sent a kind of fan. They are nearly cylindrical at first, but open 
ne on the edge of the lateral groove, where the ends of the 
___Gel's are disposed, one observes a series of little circular openings, 
cells alread: i i 
¥Y mentioned. There are only two species—one recent 
and the other fossil.”* Mons. Edwards then describes the two 
Orr Perientiete cae te 
* Hist, Nat, des Corallaires, vol. iii, 1860, p. 450. 
