92 
ME. H. N. MOSELEY ON THE 
family Milleporidse to include a series of genera, amongst which Millepora and Helio- 
pora are the only recent ones, whilst he classes the Pocilloporinse as a subfamily of the 
Favositidse, together with the Milleporidse and Seriatoporidse, under his section of the 
Madreporaria Tabulata. The section is characterized by having the corallum composed 
essentially of a much developed mural system, with the visceral chambers divided into a 
series of stories by complete diaphragms or transverse floors, the septal arrangements 
being rudimentary or represented by trabeculse, which have a greater or less extension 
in the intertabulate spaces. In his description of the Milleporidse (l. c.) M. M.-Edwards 
refers to Prof. Agassiz’s then recent paper, entitled “Les Animaux des Millepores 
sont des Acalephes Hydroides et non des Polypes,” Bibl. Univ. de Geneve, Arch, des 
Sci., Mai 1859, t. v. p. 80, to the following effect: — “ At the moment of sending this 
chapter (on the Madreporaria Tabulata) to the press, we learn that Prof. Agassiz has 
studied the mode of the organization of the soft parts of the Milleporidse, and has 
proved that these Zoophytes are not corals, but Hydroid Acalephs very nearly 
related to the Hydractiniae. Prof. Dana shares the opinion of Prof. Agassiz; and 
Agassiz believes that the Favositidse, as well as all other species of which the septa 
are not continued vertically, ought to be considered strangers to the class of corals. 
But the facts on which he grounds his opinion are not as yet sufficiently ascertained 
for us to be able to form a critical opinion of their value ; and until more ample in- 
formation is received, we shall continue to rank the polyps in question according to 
the method adopted in our former works.” 
Professor L. Agassiz, in his ‘Contributions to the Natural History of the United States,’ 
vol. iii. plate 15, figured the animals of Millepora. He places Millepora , Heliopora, 
Seriatopora , Pocillopora, the whole of the Tabulate and Rugose Corals, with the Hydroid 
Acalephse. The principal distinction between these sections and true polyps relied on 
by Agassiz, as quoted in Bronn’s ‘Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreichs’ (Actinozoa, 
1860, p. 45, note), is as follows : — “ True polyps should have unbrokeffsepta throughout 
the whole calicle, with only separated horizontal partitions between them. On the 
other hand, the hydroid Favositidse had complete horizontal partitions between inter- 
rupted septa.” Professor Agassiz hoped that deep-sea dredgings would produce addi- 
tional evidence concerning the affinities of Millepora, and genera connecting more closely 
the Rugosa and Tabulata with one another and with the Acalephse in the shape of 
branching Heliopores and the like. (A letter concerning Deep-sea Dredgings, addressed 
to Prof. Benjamin Pierce, Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, by Louis 
Agassiz. Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 1871). Since Agassiz’s observations on Millepora 
were published, no one has made any examination of the structure of the soft parts of 
any of the members of the Tabulata, with the exception of Prof. Verrill, who has 
examined a Pocillopora and found it to be a true Zoantharian polyp with twelve septa 
and twelve tentacles (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1872, vol. ix. 4th series, p. 355, from 
Silliman’s ‘American Journal,’ 1872, vol. iii. pp. 187-194, “On the Affinities of 
Palaeozoic Tabulate Corals with Existing Species ”). 
