66 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Mopsella textiformis, Verrill, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., I., 

 1864, p. 38. Id., Ridley, Report Zool. Coll. H.M.S. 

 "Alert," 1884, p. 358. Id., Thomson and Mac- 

 kinnon, Mem. Austr. Mus., IV., 13, 1911, p. 671, pi. 

 Ixiii., figs. 4, 5. 



Several almost complete specimens in the collection agree 

 closely with the description of Mopsella textiformis (Lamarck), 

 given by Ridley. The largest specimen has a height of 

 34cm., with a width of 37cm. across the branched portion. 

 The diameter near the base is 2cm. The basal attachment 

 is lacking. The branching is strictly in one plane with abun- 

 dant anastomosis. The labyrinthine pattern, to which 

 Thomson and Mackinnon have directed attention, is clearly 

 shown on the weathered axis ; and there is a well-marked 

 tendency, as pointed out by Ridley, for the stem and main 

 branches to " break up almost immediately into a reticulum 

 of undulating thin branchlets, which almost all anastomose." 

 The internodes vary in length from 4 to 10 mm., and the 

 nodes from 4 to 6 mm. 



The polyps are mainly confined to the anterior aspect of 

 the colony. They are disposed irregularly in slightly pro- 

 jecting verrucas. 



The spicules are exactly like those described by Ridley 

 (1) fusiform shapes sharply pointed at both ends, and 

 covered with irregularly scattered tubercles -210 x -035mm. ; 

 171 x-035 mm. ; -157 x-035 mm. ; (2) " Blattkeulen " with 

 orange shafts and lemon-yellow heads -140 x -052 mm. ; 

 122 x -052 mm. ; -087 x -043 mm. Very few of the " Blatt- 

 keulen " have the long shafts mentioned by Ridley. The 

 spicules of the verrucse are (3) curved fusiform shapes 

 tapering to sharp points, with few tubercles -245 x -035mm.; 

 220 x-035 mm. ; -210 x -035 mm. ; (4) curved fusiform 

 shapes pointed rather bluntly and covered with closely set 

 blunt tubercles -297 x -052 mm. ; -236 x -052 mm. ; -218 x 

 070 mm. 



Localities. Off the coast of South Australia. 



Fifteen miles south of St. Francis Island, Great Australian 

 Bight, 30 fathoms. 



Distribution. Australia (Lamouroux, Gray, Verrill). South 

 Seas (Gray). Port Curtis, 5-7 fathoms, and Port Molle, 

 Queensland, 12-20 fathoms ; Thursday Island and Prince 

 of Wales Channel, Torres Straits, 4-7 fathoms (Ridley). Lord 

 Howe Island (Thomson and Mackinnon). 



