232 
Polyphyllia talpina (Lam.) 
(PI. VIII, figs. 86- 92, PI. IX, figs. 109, 110'. 
Cryptabacia talpina Bedot 1907. 
Polyphyllia talpina Gardiner 1909. 
Polyphyllia producta Folkeson 1919. 
Polyphyllia talpina van der Horst 1921. 
Localities: D. Exp. t. Kei I si.: Amboina, 0—2 m, 12 ex.; Doelah laut, 
Kei Islands, reef, 1 ex.; Banda, 0—25 m, 33 ex. 
The general form of the corallum is very variable (cf. also 
Quelch 1886 and van der Horst 1921). Many specimens are 
very long and narrow, in these the calicles of the axial furrow can 
usually at first sight easily be distinguished (fig. 109). Other spe¬ 
cimens are much broader and here often the lateral calicles have 
the same subradial arrangement of the septa as those of the axial 
furrow, which latter then becomes more or less indistinct (fig. 110). 
A specimen of long and narrow shape with very marked axial 
calicles was described by Folkeson (1919) as a new species, 
P. producta. I have in my material a number of specimens which 
correspond in every detail with Folke so n’s description. These 
specimens, however, cannot be separated as a distinet species from 
the other ones with less pronounced axial calicles, for between the 
two extremes every intermediate stage is to be found. The dense- 
ness of the corallum also is not a characteristic found only in the 
long, siender specimens. Therefore the form producta is a variety 
of P. talpina only. 
In the following table the measurements of some of the speci¬ 
mens are given in mm. 
The first specimen in the table (figs. 90—92) was just detached 
from its stalk when it was collected. The stalk is very short and 
is fixed with a broad base to a dead piece of coral. The calicles 
in the axial furrow have neatly radiating centres, the lateral calicles 
are very indistinct. Only their centres are visible, which have been 
formed by the coalescence of two of the thinner septa over a 
notch in a thicker septum. There are already a great number of 
these centres of lateral calicles. The septal arrangement of this 
young colony is characterized by the stronger development of the 
higher cycles nearest to the anterior and posterior septa of the 
first cycle, and therefore only the septa of the central calicle have 
