ANTHOZOA 135 



tentacles, entirely buried in the mass of the ccenenchym which forms 

 the bulk of the colony: numerous species. 



A. carneum Agassiz. Colony yellowish or reddish in color, lobed 

 or arborescent and 4 to 10 cm. high: from Long Island Sound to Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, from low water to 80 fathoms. 



FAMILY 2. NEPHTHYIDAE. 



Colony more or less dendritic, consisting of a sterile trunk and 

 branches bearing polyps; consistency soft and leathery; polyps not 

 retractile, with tentacles folded over oral disc when at rest: 10 genera. 



SPONGODES Lesson. Colony massive or dendritic; spicula in periph- 

 ery of polyps so numerous that neither the polyp nor their tentacles 

 are retractile; polyp surrounded by giant spicules which project from 

 its base beyond the tentacles: 40 species. 



S. portoricensis Hargitt. Colony about 45 mm. high, whitish in 

 color, densely spinose: near Porto Rico, in 75 fathoms. 



SUBORDER 3. GORGONACEA. 



Sea fans, sea whips, red coral, etc. Colony usually branching exten- 

 sively and with a central skeletal axis, composed of compacted spicules, 

 which is either calcareous, horn-like, or composed of calcareous alternating 

 with horn-like segments; a rind of coenenchym containing spicules covers 

 this axis, in which the polyps are imbedded, being joined together by 

 entodermal canals: about 11 families and over 250 species. 



FAMILY 1. COEALLIIDAE. 



Colony erect, branching, with a dense, calcareous axis of fused 

 spicules surrounded by canaliferous coenenchym bearing spicules: about 

 3 genera. 



CORALLITTM Lamarck. Red coral. Polyps white in color and re- 

 tractile; spicules and axis red; axis thick and longitudinally ridged by 

 entodermal canals, very hard, forming the red coral of commerce: about 

 a dozen species, in the Mediterranean, eastern Atlantic, and off the coast 

 of Japan. 



C. nobile (Pallas) (C. rubrum Lam.). Colony up to 30 cm. high: in 

 the central and western Mediterranean, being fished principally off the 

 coast of Africa and Italy. 



FAMILY 2. GORGONIIDAE. 



Colony erect and branched, often in one plane; axis horn-like, occa- 

 sionally horn-like and calcareous; polyps occur in rows and on two sides 

 only of the stem and branches: 12 genera. 



