i6 



General distributie» n. The type was from near Havana, Cuba. 494 fathoms. Studer 

 reports it from near the Azores. 927 fathoms. Hedlund reports it from Amoy. 35 fathoms. 

 Studer, however, expresses doubt regarding Hedlünd's identification. 



5. AcantJiogorgia muricata Verrill. 



AcantJiogorgia muricata Verrill. Buil. Mus. Comp. Zool., XI, N° 1, 1883, p. 34. 

 AcantJiogorgia muricata Hiles. Gorgonacean Corals at Funafuti, 1889, p. 48. 

 AcantJiogorgia muricata Studer. The Alcyonaires de 1'Hirondelle, 1901, p. 45. 

 Acanthogorgia muricata Thomson and Henderson. Ceylon Pearl Oyster Report, Alcyonaria, 

 1905, p. 290. (Under name of A. muricata var. indica). 



Stat. 260. 5°3Ó'.5S., I32°55'.2E. near Kei Islands. 90 meters. Sand, coral and shells. 



Colony flabellate, rather straggling in habit. 9 cm. in height, and about 5 cm. in diameter. 

 The main stem is unbranched for 1,5 cm. from its base, where it sends off a branch which 

 is the main part of the colony, and itself bears branches and branchlets. There are 110 

 anastomoses of branches. 



The calyces are more sparsely distributed than in most species, and show a tendency 

 toward a bilateral arrangement on the stem and branches, although they are not uncommonly 

 met with on the front and back of the colony. They are not so closely approximated as in the 

 species already discussed, and are quite irregularly spaced. 



The individual calyces are quite long and slender. While their basal portions are set at 

 a right angle with the stem, they usually curve distinctly upward so that their margins are 

 approximately horizontal. Their proximal and distal portions are enlarged, while their middle 

 portion is more slender than in other species of the genus so far discussed. The calyces attain 

 a height to 3,5 mm. with a diameter below the tentacles of 1,25 mm. and in their middle 

 portion of .75 mm. Other, probably younger, calyces are much shorter, but fully developed 

 ones are as described. 



S p i c ui es. The spicules forming the crown are rather long, and often two unite to 

 form a single crown point. Their distal and proximal parts are not so much differentiated as 

 in other species, the distal part being tuberculate and the proximal part being less expanded 

 than is usual in the genus. The spicules on the calyx walls are arranged en chevron, but 

 the slenderness of the calyces results in these spicules being nearly vertical, meeting in an 

 exceedingly acute angle. Often their distal ends project spine-like from the body walls, but not 

 at a very decided angle. 



The spindles in the ccenenchyma are usually arched or bent near the middle, and are 

 rather stout, with numerous warty tubercles. 



Color. The colony is light buffy throughout. The spicules are colorless. 



General distri bution. Off Funafuti, Hiles. Off Barbados, West Indies, Verrill. 76 

 fathoms. Off the Azores, Studer. 454 meters. Near Trincomalee, Ceylon, Thomson and Henderson. 



This species is much like A. verril li Studer, but the calyces in the Siboga specimen 

 are shorter than those described by Studer. 



