564 Mr. H. N. Moseley on the true 



socicdis and M. parallela, which were obtained with F. variabile by 

 Semper in his dredgings at the Philippines. The coral-fauna of the 

 Philippines of moderate depths seems thus to extend southwards to the 

 Araf ura Sea ; and this is borne out by the fact that in deeper water 

 Stephanophyllia formosissima was obtained near the Ke Islands and also 

 off Cebu, Philippines. 



Heliastrcea cavernosa. 

 Off Barra Grande, Brazil, two huge masses of this species were 

 brought up by the trawl from 30 fathoms. The masses, which were of 

 the usual convex form, measured nearly two feet in the diameter of the 

 flat base. The corals were living. They were bored by Liihodomi, 

 which, however, were dead. This is the only certain evidence obtained 

 during our expedition of the existence of massive reef-forming species at 

 so great a depth as 30 fathoms. Madracis asperula mentioned above is 

 hardly a reef-forming species ; but at the south-west bank, Bermuda, 

 it is in such quantities that it must contribute to reef -formation to a 

 considerable extent. 



General Remarks on Beep-Sea Corals. 



BatJiy metrical Distribution. — With the exception of a Diplohelia pro- 

 funda, a dead specimen of which was obtained from 1050 fathoms inlat. 

 28° 24' N., long. 79° 13' W., none of the deep-sea corals described by 

 Count Pourtales * are from a greater depth than 600 fathoms ; whilst 

 only two, Cryptohelia Piercii and Distichopora sulcata, were obtained from 

 a greater depth than 450 fathoms. 



In the dredgings of H.M.S. ' Porcupine ' f no corals were obtained 

 from a greater depth than 1095 fathoms, from which depth Desmophyllum 

 crista-galli, CaryopJiyllia abyssorum, Solenosmilia variabilis, and Bathy- 

 cyathus atlanticus were obtained at one dredging. From depths of above 

 500 fathoms CaryopJiyllia clavus, C. Seguenzce, C. cylinclracea, C. In- 

 sJcipi, C. Pourtalesi, C. vermiformis, Sabinotrochus apertus, Bathycyathus 

 atlanticus, Desmophyllum crista-galli, Flabellum distinctum, Lophohelia 

 prolifera, and Fungia symmetrica only were obtained. The yacht 

 'Noma' dredged off the coast of Spain and Portugal Desmophyllum 

 crista-galli in 500 fathoms, and obtained Lophohelia prolifera in from 

 400 to 600 fathoms J. 



* Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Harvard College. 

 No. IV. Deep-Sea Corals, by L. F. de Pourtales. Cambridge, Mass., 1871. 



t " A Description of the Madreporaria dredged up during the Expeditions of H.M.S. 

 ' Porcupine ' in 1869 and 1870," by Professor P. Martin Duncan, M.B. Lond., F.P.S., 

 F.Gr.S., &c (Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. vol. viii. pt. 5). See also "On the Madreporaria 

 dredged up in the Expedition of H.M.S. 'Porcupine,'" by the same author, Proc. Pv. 

 Soc. 1870, vol. xxiii. p. 289 ; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, vol. v. p. 286. 



} " Observations on the Madreporaria taken, in the late Expedition of the Yacht 



