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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XIII, July 1959 
Turhinaria by its subramose growth form. 
The growth form in Turbinaria is character- 
istically crateriform to foliate, with barely 
protuberant corallites. The only other sub- 
ramose species is T. ramosa Yabe and Sugi- 
yama (1941, p. 89, ph 100, figs. 2, 2a, 2b) 
from Kyushu, Japan, but in this species the 
corallites taper slightly toward the calice, the 
calices are slightly smaller (2.5-3 mm.) with 
only 14 to 16 thick, wedge-shaped septa, and 
the columella is sublamellar. The most sig- 
nificant difference lies in the smaller number 
of septa in the Japanese coral. There is a 
slight resemblance to the allied genus Duncan- 
opsammia in the calicular characters and even 
less in the mode of growth. 
The typically loosely ramose form (Fig. 1) 
of T. heronensis grows in relatively sheltered 
sites amongst other corals on reef flats. 
Stunted, compact, fasciculate colonies (Fig. 3) 
are occasionally found in rough-water en- 
vironments near reef margins. The polyps are 
an unpleasant sulphur yellow, set in yellow- 
brown coenosarc. 
A number of specimens of this coral have 
been seen in collections from the Great Bar- 
rier Reef, but very few had definite localities. 
The living specimens were collected by the 
writer in 1954 at Heron Island, Queensland. 
Holotype and figured paratype are to be de- 
posited in the U. S. National Museum. 
Localities 
Great Barrier Reef, Queensland; windward 
reef flat. Heron Island (23° 25' S.), Capricorn 
Group (holotype); windward reef margin. 
Heron Island (paratype: rough-water facies); 
Low Isles (16° 25' S.) (Australian Museum): 
South Molle Island (20° 15' S.), Whitsunday 
Group (in private collection at S. Molle); 
."East of Port Curtis” (probably from Capri- 
corn or Bunker Group, 23° 30' S.) (Australian 
Museum No. 4955). 
REFERENCES 
Wells, J. W. 1955. A survey of the distribu- 
tion of reef coral genera in the Great Barrier 
Reef region. Kep. Gr. Barrier Reef Comm. 
6 (pt. 2): 21-29, 1 chart. 
Yabe, H., and T. Sugiyama. 1941. Recent 
reef-building corals from Japan and the 
South Sea islands under the Japanese man- 
date. II. Sci. Rep. Tohoku Imp. Univ. Spec. 
Vol. 2 (2): 67-91, pis. 59-104. 
