PLATE CLXI. 



The tribe of Madrepores in the Linngean system comprehends 

 many species, and, as may be presumed where the species are so 

 numerous, although many of them may be of usual occurrence, and 

 others even commoUj this is not uniformly the case : several of the 

 genus are distinguished for their rarity. The species now before us, 

 though not one of the rarer kinds, is so far scarce that its native 

 place remained long unknown, nor are we even now entirely assured 

 that it is correctly ascertained. Ellis, the author by whom it was 

 originally described, knew nothing of its native place or history, and 

 Gmelin, whose latin character is transcribed literally from Ellis, was 

 equally uninformed upon this subject. We believe it is a native of 

 the Indian seas ; one of its analogies^ Madrepora Siderea, inhabits 

 the seas of the West Indies. 



All the species of this extensive tribe may be very readily 

 distinguished by the size, form and disposition of the stellated figures 

 or stars upon the surface, the mouths, if it may be so expressed, of 

 the stelliform cells, in which the living animals of this aggregated 

 group of habitations have their residence. The nearest analogies of 

 Madrepora Siderea are Galaxea, Pleiades, and Hyades, all which 

 may, however, be readily distinguished by their comparative dis- 

 similarity in the size as well as form of the stars, and of those the 

 M. Galaxea bears the nearest similitude, but in this the stars are 

 much smaller and more numerous. 



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