ALCYONARIA. 



ALCYONIUM PAESSLERI. 

 (Plate II., figs. 22, 23.) 

 Alfymiitnn. /wWrr/, M;iy, Hamb. Magcl. Samtn., Alcyon. (1899), p. 0. 



Localities:!. Off Mt. Erebus, February 8, 1902. 100 fathoms. 



2. W.g., June 5, 1902. D. net hole. 50 fathoms. 



3. W.Q., June 15, 1902. D. net hole. 12| fathoms. 



4. W.Q., April 1. 1903. No. 6 hole. 124 fathoms. 



5. W.Q., February 13, 1904. D. net, Hut Point. 



In addition to the specimens from the localities mentioned above several small 

 specimens were found in other bottles. It is evidently a common and widely distributed 

 species ranging from shallow water to depths of over 100 fathoms. 



The largest specimen was from locality 5 (Plate II., fig. 22). The colony is 

 50 mm. in height and 30 mm. in greatest breadth. It rises from a base of attachment 

 of irregular form with a maximum width of 15 mm. There are 13 blunt lobes, of 

 which the largest is 15 mm. x 7 mm. The anthocodiae of this specimen were nearly 

 all completely retracted. 



The spicules of the anthocodise (of a specimen from loc. 3) are long spindles 

 0'35 mm. in length (Plate II., fig. 23b), and the spicules of the ccenenchym of the 

 same specimen, clubs or short spindles OS-O'l mm. in length (fig. 23a), as well as ;i 

 number of longer spindles of variable size attaining to the same length as those of the 

 anthocodise. The two specimens from locality 3 are attached to a black stone, the 

 specimens from localities 1 and 5 had their bases bent round the very slender stem of 

 a dead Ceratoisis (Primnoisis). The colour of all the specimens is orange or pale 

 orange, except the specimen from locality 4, which is white. The smaller specimens 

 are not branched. The specimen from locality 4 consists of a single lobe 10 mm. in 

 height by 6 mm. in diameter. 



I have compared the specimens with a specimen obtained by the ' Southern 

 Cross' Expedition in 24 fathoms off Franklin Island (3). They cannot, I think, 

 be separated from the specimens of the species described by Dr. May (8) from 

 Smyth Sound. 



The species of the genus Alcyonium that have been described from Antarctic regions 

 are ,1. sollasi, from the Straits of Magellan ('Challenger'), .1. haddoni, Messier Channel 

 ('Challenger') and A.antarcticum, off Heard Island ('Challenger'), and from Kerguelcn 

 (Studer). It is difficult to give any very precise characters to differentiate these three 

 species from Alcyonium paessleri, but it is probable that A. antarcticum and .1. WA^/' 

 are larger species, the largest specimen of A. paessleri being considerably smaller than 

 the type specimens of the other two species. Alcyonium haddoni may be of the same size 

 as A. paessleri, but some of the long spindles are '7 mm. in length, about twice the 

 size of any that I found in the specimens at my disposal, and the species is also 



2 A 2 



