300 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Astrangia astreiformis Milne-Edwards & Haime, var. PI. n, figs. 2, 2a, 2b. 
1850. Astrangia astreiformis, Milne-Edwards & Haime, Ann. Sci. Nat., 3i6mes6r., Zool., t. xn, p. 181. 
1857. Astrangia astrxiformis, -Milne-Edwards & Haime, Hist. Nat. Corall., t. ii, p. 614. 
There is one specimen in the collection referred to this species. It is not typical, the corallites 
are not soldered one to another tp their summits, but many corallites are free from very near their 
bases. There are distinct, usually equal, costae on the outer free part of the corallites. There is a 
fairly good suite of specimens of A. astreiformis in the United States National Museum, and a careful 
comparison has been made with them. There is much variation within a single corallum in the approxi- 
mation of the corallites, and very often, or usually, the outside of the free oortion of a corallite is 
distinctly costate. As the septa and columella are the same as in typical astreiformis and the specimen 
from Porto Rico, and as the other features are so variable, I have considered them specifically identical. 
The Astrangia michelini has given me much trouble. The figure given by Milne-Edwards & 
Haime 1 2 suggests great similarity to this specimen from Porto Rico. I have not seen the type and do 
not know where it is from. 
From station 6090, off Culebra, Culebritas light-house. Bathymetric occurrence, 16 fathoms. 
Family ORBICELLID^E, nom. nov. 
Type genus, Orbicella Dana. 
Salient family characters: Calcareous tissues normally imperforate, except in the columellar region. 
Corallites grouped into rounded, gibbous, or digitiform masses. Septal margins dentate. Reproduc- 
tion normally by gemmation between the corallites, occasional abnormal reproduction by fission. 
I have shown in my Eocene and Lower Oligocene Coral Faunas of the United States 2 that the name 
A sire a can not be used in coral nomenclature; that the name was first applied to a mollusk; also, if the 
name were used for a genus of corals, that it would have to supplant Siderastrea. I have therefore 
dropped the family name Astrseklie altogether. The old Astreid corals of those found in Porto Rico are 
distributed in four families, viz: Eusmilidx Verrill, Aslrangidse Verrill, Orbicellidse nom. nov., and 
Favidse Gregory. The reasons for proposing the latter new name will appear later. 
Genus ORBICELLA Dana, 1846. 
1846. Orbicella, Dana, Zooph. Wilkes Expl. Exped., p. 205. 
1857. Iieliastrsea, Milne-Edwards & Haime, Hist. Nat. Corail., t. n, p. 456. 
Attention has several times been called to the fact that Dana understood by Orbicella what Milne- 
Edwards & Haime meant by their later described Jieliastnm , 3 
The characterization given by Dana is “Cells nearly circular, more or less prominent, not 
subdividing, or rarely so; stars with distinct limits formed by the coalescence laterally of the lamellae, 
and therefore cells appearing tubular and separated by interstices.” From his characterization and 
subsequent treatment of the species, it is evident that Orbicella radiata or annularis is regarded as 
typical. Dana confused some other genera with Orbicella, similar to the confusion by Milne-Edwards 
& Haime of other genera with Heliastrxa; the meaning of the respective authors, however, is clear, 
and Dana’s name, because of priority, must replace that of Milne-Edwards & Haime. 
I have seen in the literature on corals no reference to the genus Favites Link. 1 He defined the 
genus “Unformige, kalkartige Massen, mit oberflaehlichen zerstreuten sternformigen blattrigen 
Oeffnungen”; and included in it “ F. astrinus, Madrepora, favites, Linn. Gmel. Syst. Nat., p. 3763, Esper’s 
Pflanzenth. Fortsetz. 1, Madr., t. 44-46 — F. cavernosas, Linn. Gmel. Syst. Nat., p. 3767, Esp. Fortsetz. 
I, Madr., t. 37 — and F. pentagonus, Esp. Fortsetz. I, Madr., t. 39.” Link’s Favites astrinus includes a 
species of Favia ( Esper, t. xliv ) and species of Prionastrea. Favites cavernosus is Orbicella cavernosa. 
Favites pentagonus in a Goniastrea. Four genera are included in Favites. The name Favia was first 
given by Oken to a species not included in Link’s list, but it applies to Madrepora favosa of Esper 
(pi. xliv); Orbicella Dana takes in F. cavernosa. Fissdcella Dana, 1846, contains a conglomeration of 
'Ann. Sci. Nat., 3i6mes6r., Zool., t. x, pi. vii, tig. 5. 
2 Mon. U. S. Geol. Surv., No. xxxix, pp. 154-155. 
Ponrtwlfis, 111. Cat. Comp. Zool., No. IV, 1871, p. 76. Verrill, in Dana’s Corals and Coral Islands, 1872, p. 38S. Quelch, 
Reef Corals, Challenger Exp., 1886, p. 106. Gregory, Jour. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. Li, 1895, p. 270. 
< Beschreioung der Naturalien-Sammlung der Universitat zu Rostock, 3te Abth., Rostock, 1807, p. 162. 
