60 Mr. H. N. Moseley on the [Nov. 25, 



culties, and the present notes on their structure are to be regarded as 

 only preliminary. Further investigations will be made with specimens 

 which it is hoped will be obtained at the Sandwich Islands. At Zamboan- 

 gan, Heliopora ccerulea was obtained, and found at once to be an Alcyona- 

 rian. Its structure is described in full in the paper. Another Alcyona- 

 rian of the genus Sarcophyton (Lesson) was examined for purpose of 

 comparison. It proved to present special features of interest, and a gene- 

 ral description of its anatomy also is therefore given. Notes are further 

 appended on the anatomy of a species of Pocillopora obtained at Zam- 

 boangan, and that of a Stylasteracean dredged off the MeaDgis Islands 

 in 500 fathoms. 



Literature of the Subject. — Few original works relating to the subjects 

 treated of in this paper were available for reference on board the ' Chal- 

 lenger.' A review of what has been able to be gathered of the recent 

 literature relating to the Tabulate and Eugose Corals and the Alcyona- 

 rians is given, and also a history of the various systematic arrangements 

 to which the Tabulata and Eugosa have been subjected. 



Professor Agassiz published his opinion as to the hydroid affinities of 

 the Milleporidae in 1859 ("Les Animaux des Millepores sont des Aca- 

 lephes et non des Polypes," Bibl.Univ. de Geneve, Arch, des Sci.,Mai 1859), 

 and figured the animals of the Millepora alcicornis in his ' Contribution 

 to the Natural History of the United States,' vol. iii. plate 15. Pourtales 

 observed the animals in company with Agassiz. He says that one which 

 he saw was " shorter than they are represented to be in the figure, and 

 had five tentacular masses rather than tentacles." M. -Ed wards considered 

 Professor Agassiz's evidence as to the hydroid nature of Millepora insuffi- 

 cient, as does also Professor Allman. 



Professors Claus, Pourtales, Verrill, and many other authors accept 

 Agassiz's conclusion with regard to the Milleporidae, but do not accept his 

 views with regard to the Eugosa. 



Professor Verrill (Silliman's American Journal, 1872, vol. iii. pp. 187, 

 194) found that Pocillopora, a genus with extremely well-marked tabulae, 

 was a true Hexactinian, and showed that the presence of tabulae, the cha- 

 racter relied on by Professor Agassiz, was of little importance. Pour- 

 tales and L. Ludwig have come to the conclusion that the tetrameral 

 arrangement in the Eugosa is merely apparent, and that the original 

 arrangement in the young coral was hexameral. Professor Martin Dun- 

 can arrived at similar conclusions from the examination of Guynia annulata. 

 Kunth, however, still adheres to the tetrameral primary division. Lind- 

 strom, the first discoverer of the opercular apparatus of certain Eugosa, 

 compares these structures with skeletal structures of Primnoa. The 

 latest paper on the classification of Corals is by M. Dollfus (Comptes 

 Eendus de l'Acad. des Sciences, t. lxxx. no. 10, 8 Mars 1875, pp. 681- 

 683). M. Dollfus connects together the genera Heliolites and Propora with 

 Heliopora and Seriatopora by means of Pocillopora, considering all these 



