24 



MADREPORARIA OF THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO. 



form with twenty-four septa which I believe is VerriU's P.eoccavata 

 from the Pearl Islands, Panama Bay. The only distinction 

 is that the type has deeper calices. Synarcea of Verrill is also 

 represented. 



Fifteen species of the section Madreporaria Fungida occur at 

 Mergui, but there is nothing particular to be said about them; 

 they are well-known forms which also live in the Red Sea, Indian 

 Ocean, Chinese seas, and on the Pacific reefs. 



As a coral-fauna that of Mergui has rather more than one sixth 

 of the species characteristic, and they are humble and for the 

 most part simple species (solitary). The remaining species are 

 also found from the Mozambique coast to China, as well as in 

 western Central American seas and in tbe reefs of the Pacific 

 Islands. The Australian, Mediterranean, and Atlantic coral- 

 faunas are not represented by species at Mergui. 



It is very remarkable that the coral-fauna of Ceylon, so far 

 as it is known from Mr. Stuart O. Ridley's researches (Ann. & 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, vol. xi. 1883, p. 250), does not contain a 

 single Mergui species. The number of genera common to the 

 two areas is, however, great, and many species are very closely 

 allied. 



Some great groups of Madreporaria are absent at Mergui, such 

 as the non-paliferous Turbinolidse, and the whole of the Oculinidae 

 except Pocillopora. 



On turning to the descriptions of the Tertiary Madreporaria of 

 the Asiatic province, and especially to the collections which were 

 so carefully collected by the Greological Survey of India from Sind, 

 which belong to the remains of a flourishing coral sea of Miocene 

 age, one cannot but be impressed with the total distinctness of 

 the ancient and modern faunas. There are no species, and few 

 genera, in common (Pal. Ind. ser. xiv.). Unfortunately Pliocene 

 fossiliferous deposits are rare in that part of the world, but it is 

 to be hoped that search will be made for those which may be 

 coralliferous so as to enable palaeontologists to give the succession 

 of forms in India from the Jurassic to the present day. 



