REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 23 



branches, they are cylindrical, on the twigs they look directly upwards ; on the thinner 

 twigs there are usually two on an intemode, on the stem and the thick branches four, 

 standing around the stem in an ascending spiral. The zooids, which under a low magni- 

 fying power appear as little villi, covering the coenenchyma in the neighbourhood of 

 the pol}^s, are 0"5 mm. high, obtusely conical structures with a simple mouth-opening. 

 The ectoderm in this case is but slightly thickened and contains only a few thread-cells, 

 the mouth is slightly below the apex, and the uppermost part projects beyond it as a 

 lobe. Their ccelenteric cavity leads into canals, which first anastomose in a reticulate 

 manner before passing into the longitudinal canals. Some of them contained ova. 



The axis is smooth, yellowish brown, in the main stem hard and brittle, in the thin 

 twigs elastic and soft. It exhibits, especially in the thicker branches, brilliant metallic 

 reflections. 



The spicules of the coenenchyma are broad spindles and lancet-shaped bodies, 0'38 to 0'4 

 mm. long, which are crowded together, partly with their edges overlapping, and follow 

 the longitudinal direction of the twigs. At the base of the zooids they alter their direction 

 and are continued into these in the form of eight longitudinal series. In the polyps the 

 spicules are more scale-like, placed transversely to the long axis, broad, with finely toothed 

 edges and fine wrinkles on the surface, which with oblique illumination give rise to 

 iridescent reflections. Their length to breadth in mm. reaches 0"33-0"15 ; 0"38-0"15 ; 

 0-25-0-12. 



In the tentacles the spicules are again longitudinally placed, flat, rod-like structures 

 with blunt ends, sometimes with a short fork at one end. Their length to breadth in 

 mm. reaches 0-23-0-04 ; 0-2-0-07 ; 0-25-0-08 ; 0-26-0-06. The deeper layer of spicules 

 consists of small, flat, rod- or scale-like bodies, which show a tendency towards double 

 and quadruple forms ; these measure 0*16-0*15 ; 0"l-0*04 mm. 



Habitat. — Station 237, ofl" Japan ; depth, 1875 fathoms ; bottom, blue mud. 



[Genus 3. Chrysogorgia, Duchassaing and Michelotti, emend. Verrill. 



Ghrysogorgia, Duch. and Mich., Mem. Corall. des Antilles, Suppl., p. 21. 



The authors, Duchassaing and Michelotti, describe under the name Chrysogorgia 

 deshonni, n. gen. et sp., what are obviously two difi'erent Corals. The one represented 

 (loc cit.) on pi. i. figs. 7, 8, is placed among the Primnoacese ; the second, pi. iv. 

 figs. 5, 6, among the Gorgonacese. The first is, according to the description and figure, 

 either a Primnoid, which perhaps belongs to Plumarella, or an Isid ; to the second 

 Pourtales has referred his Chrysogorgia deshonni = Chrysogorgia fewhesii, Verrill.* 

 Verrill has also recognised the same as Chrysogorgia and described it afresh. Unfortun- 

 ately the originals of Duchassaing and Michelotti are not to be found in the museum of 



1 Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, Nos. 6 and 7, 1868, p. 131. 



