OCR Text |
Show 1871.] MR. W. S. KENT ON NEW MADREPORES. 285 BALANOPHYLLIA MALACCENSIS, n. sp. This form closely resembles B. floridana (Pourtales), but may be distinguished by its well-developed and spongious instead of papillose columella, and by the freedom from granulation of the lateral surfaces of the septa. Hab. Malacca. B.M. TuRBINARIA PARVISTELLA, n. Sp. Corallum massive, convex. Ccenenchyma abundant, very porous. Calices small, superficial, their apertures even with the surface of the ccenenchyma, not exceeding a line in diameter. Columella well developed, spongious. Septa of equal size, varying from twelve to eighteen in number. Described from a specimen in the Oxford Museum, and of which a small fragment has been placed in the National Collection. Hab. Unrecorded. The non-prominent calices isolate this species from those hitherto described, and would seem to separate it from the genus Turbinaria of Milne-Edwards, which he characterizes as possessing prominent calices. In T. cinerascens, however, it frequently occurs that while the greater portion of the calices project considerably, the remainder are on a level with the surface of the ccenenchyma; and hence the character quoted, though dominant, cannot be considered essentially diagnostic of the genus. Turbinaria parvistella in the massive form and yet extremely porous texture of its corallum, and in the entirely sessile character of its calices, shows its affinity to the genus Astreopora, from which it differs only in the possession of a well-developed columella. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. PLATE XXIII. Fig. 1. Acanthocyathus spiniger, enlarged 2 diameters, showing the spinous prolongations of the primary costee. 1 a. The same from above, illustrating the interior of the calice. 1 b, c. Early conditions of the same form. 2 &2a. Flabellum matricidum. Two young specimens, nat. size, showing their mode of gemmation from the parent calice. 2 b. Longitudinal section of an adult example of the same coral, enlarged 2 diameters, exhibiting the septal arrangement and the rudimentary condition of the columella, a portion of the parent calice still remaining attached. 2 c. A calice of the same species viewed superiorly. 3. Tridacophyllia echinata. Corallum, nat. size, viewed from above. 4. Tridacophyllia alcicomis, nat. size, viewed laterally. 5. Balanophyllia imperialis, nat. size, lateral aspect. 5 a. Calice of the same, from above, enlarged lj diameter. 5 b. Diagrammatic illustration of a single system of the same coral, showing the relationship and arrangement of the septal elements. PLATE XXIV. Fig. 1. Stylaster amphiheloides, nat. size. 1 a. A small ramuscule of the same, magnified 3 diameters, and illustrating the alternate distal mode of gemmation. |