Notes on Indo-Pacific Scleractinian Corals, Part 4 A Second Species of Stylocoeniella

IN 1890 P., W. Bassett-Smith described a new species of Stylophora, S. guentheri, from two specimens dredged on the Macclesfield Bank, China Sea. His descripti on ( 1890:362), al-though unaccompanied by a figure, is of a form so distinct that it cannot be confused with other species of this genus. To the writer's knowledge this species has not been subsequently noticed or referred to. In 1955 an encrusting colony of a Stylop hora-like form was collected at Eniwetok Atoll (Marshall Islands) by R. T. B. Iversen in the course of making a reference collection for the Eniwetok laboratory. At the time, the writer thought it might be a new species but hesitated because of the possibility that it might be merely the expanded base of one of the spe-cies of the normally ramose Stylophora. More specimens of the same coral were collected at Eniwetok lagoon in 1960 by E. J. Kuenzler and L. R. Pomeroy, and in the summer of 1964 P. Spencer Davies collected several more at Addu Atoll (Maldive Islands). From the consistently encrustin g growth habit and other characters it is now clear that these specimens represent a species quite different from the common forms of Stylophora, such as S. pistillata and S. mordax, and that Bassetr-Smith's recognition of its distinctness was cor-rect, although its relationships appear to be with Stylocoeniella rather than Stylophora. The writer expresses his thanks to Dr. W. J. Rees of the British Museum (N.H.) for provid-ing photographs of the type specimen of S. guentheri and to Dr. P. Spencer Davies of Glas-gow Uni versity for perm ission co use material collected by him. Family ASTROCOENIIDAE This familia l epithet is used here in.a broad sense pending modifications in its scope that wil