APPENDIX TO ALCYONAPJA. 171 



others. The spicules of the " poiuts " and of the "crown" are reddish -brown to 

 orange-red in colour. 



The whole ccenenchyma is covered with large rough spindles, mostly curved in a 

 slightly S-shaped manner, some reddish-brown and others very light in colour. 

 Similar internal spicules constitute the rigid substance of the branch around the 

 longitudinal canals, of which four were seen in a cross-section. The knobbed tubercles 

 often present a spiral arrangement. 



The following measurements were taken in millimetres : (a) Long stout spindles, 

 2-3 x 0-2, 25 x 0-175, 27 x 0'3 ; (b) slender smaller spindles, l'l x 0-03, 1'3 x 0-04, 

 l - 5 x 0-025 ; (c) very small spindles, - 2 x 0*025 ; (d) canal-wall spicules, uncoloured, 

 with relatively long spines, - 2 x 0"01, - 16 x 0-01, 0'14 x 002, including the spines. 



It seems difficult at present to distinguish between the genera Chironephthya and 

 Siphonogorgia, if indeed they are not one. Hickson has suggested that the name 

 Chironephthya be retained for species or facies with a form and mode of branching 

 like Nephthya, with anthocodise rarely retracted, and with four principal spicules 

 en chevron in the points of the anthocodise ; and that the name Siphonogorgia be 

 retained for species or facies of more massive Gorgonia-like form of growth, with 

 anthocodiae capable of complete retraction within the general coenenchyma, and with 

 spicules irregularly placed or arranged in a fan-like manner in the points of the 

 anthocodiaj (' Alcyonaria of the Maldives,' Part I., p. 491). 



If we apply these distinctions to the present specimen, we find that it agrees with 

 Chironephthya in having triangular opercular coverings, but disagrees in having 

 almost all the anthocodiae completely retracted, and in having, as far as we can judge, 

 a more massive mode of growth. As the minute architecture of the polyps is probably 

 the most distinctive feature, we have referred the specimen to Chironephthya. 



Locality : Ceylon seas. 



Family : SCLEROGORGIID^. 

 Suberogorgia kollikeri, Wright and Studer, var. ceylonensis, nov. 



Several fragments, including a basal piece, of a yellowish colony or colonies with a 

 sclerogorgic axis. The stem is 3 millims. in diameter at the base, and 1 millim. in 

 the thinnest branch of the chief specimen. The greatest length is 8'5 centime. 



Verrucae may arise on all sides, but they are, for the most part, lateral. In the 

 smaller fragments they are altogether lateral and regularly alternate. Their diameter 

 is about 1 millim. Here and there the aperture shows an eight-rayed figure in the 

 fully retracted state of the polyp. 



The thin ccenenchyma is marked on opposite sides by two shallow winding grooves. 



The spicules include the following forms : (a) Numerous warty spindles, 

 0'175 millim. x - 075 millim., 0'225 millim. x 0'075 millim ; (6) a few very slender 



z 2 



