FAMILIES A^iTD GENERA OF THE MADREPORAEIA. 



5 



raria Tubulosa. Jules Haime established it in 1850^ and it 

 was fully considered by Milne-Edwards in the last volume 

 of the Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires/ 1860. 



Mihie-Edwards evidently had great doubts about the affiuities 

 of the two genera which were included in this section, namely 

 Aulopora and Fyrgia, and he noticed their structural resem- 

 blances to certain Bryozoa. In 1871, after due consideration, I 

 removed these genera out of the Zoantharia Sclerodermata, aud 

 I still hold that they are not corals *. 



Section Madreporaria Tabulata_, Ed. ^ Haime. 



The fourth section of the Madreporaria, according to MM. 

 Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, is that of the Tabulata. The 

 researches of L. Agassiz and H. N. Moseley f have eliminated the 

 majority of the genera of this section, and have ranged them 

 amongst the Hydrozoa and Alcyonaria. Some genera remain, 

 but cannot form a homogeneous group, and require considera- 

 tion. Milne-Edwards divided the Tabulata into four families — 

 the Milleporida?, Seriatoporidse, Eavositidse, and Thecidae. Of 

 the first family the genus Batter shy ia was eliminated by myself in 

 1867 t > s-iid H. Moseley, during the voyage of the ' Challen- 

 ger,' and in the publication of the Report on the Corals in 1876- 

 1879, completely revolutionized the zoology of the remainder. 

 His researches render it necessary to eliminate all the nine 

 remaining genera. 



The Eavositidae, criticized upon the data given by H. N". Moseley, 

 have all their genera removed from the Madreporaria except 

 some of those of the subfamily JPocilloporincB. 



The family SeriatoporidsD has to be broken up, and the genus 

 Seriatopora is removed from the Tabulata. 



Einally the Thecidse, although the genus Colwmnaria has well- 

 formed septa, must follow the Tabulata in the direction urged 

 by H. N. Moseley. 



So the great section Tabulata disappears, and such evidently 

 Aporose genera of it as Pocillopora and Seriatopora should enter, 

 according to Verrill, the Oculinidse, or rather form a family of 



* Third Eeport Brit. Foss. Corals, Brit. Assoc. Adv. Science (P. Martin 

 Duncan). 



t Prof. H. N. Moseley, Report on the Corals, ' Challenger ' Expedition. 

 \ Phil. Trans. 1867, p. 613 (P. Martin Duncan). 



