REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 95 



twigs is quite soft, so that the latter are flexible in every direction and are like soft 

 strings. The colour is brownish-yellow. The spicules in the ccenenchyma are long, 

 slightly bent spindles and rods, which are armed with small, sharp, widely separated 

 epines, they are closely placed in the longitudinal direction of the branches and twigs. 

 Generally they are truncated at one end and pointed at the other and often somewhat 

 bent in their course. Their length reaches 0'48 ; 0"25 ; 0'2 mm.; their thickness 0"015 

 mm. and less. In the polyps the spicules form eight longitudinal rows. Each lonoi- 

 tudinal row is formed of two rows of spicules which converge towards the edge in a 

 A-like manner and are covered again by straight longitudinally-placed spicules. These 

 longitudinal rows are continued up into the bases of the tentacles, where they suddenly 

 cease, so that they form eight radial lobes ; from these arise the long bundles of spicules, 

 composed of from two to three needles, which surround the oral region of the polyp. 

 These latter contain needle-like spicules, Tl mm. long and 0'03 mm. thick, and 07 mm. 

 long and 0'04 mm. thick. The spicules of the calyx wall have a lower, divergent, blunt 

 end and run out into a point, they have small, sharp spines ; length to breadth in 

 mm. — 0-6-0-025; 0-7-0-04; 0-4; 0-35-0-01. In the tentacles the spicules are placed 

 longitudinally; they are thin, bent, and provided with small spines, 0"25 ram., towards 

 the point only 0"1 ; 0"06 mm. long. The colour of the polyps and ccenenchyma in 

 alcohol is yellowish. 



Habitat. — Station 207, off Tablas, Philippine Islands; depth, 700 fathoms; bottom, 

 blue mud. 



2. Acanthogorgia ridleyi, n. sp. (PI. XXII. fig. 3; PI. XXV. fig. 2). 



The colony consists of a simple stem which rises from a flat, horny base. The stem 

 gives ofi" thin, rod-like branches on three sides, of which those of two opposite sides are 

 most developed and give off" a few lateral twigs which remain simple. In the largest 

 specimen the stem has a length of 250 mm. and at the base is 3 mm. thick. It 

 begins to give off" branches near the base, which are all unbranched, and of which those 

 coming off" in one plane, on two sides, attain a length of 95 min., whilst the individual 

 ones coming off in a third direction reach a length of 33 mm. Throughout the last 

 60 mm. of the stem no more branches are given off. 



In a second specimen, in which the stem is 150 mm. long, branches come off in one 

 plane at intervals of 5 to 10 mm., alternating on two sides of the stem, and having a 

 length of 20 to 35 mm. The branches which arise in the third direction have at most 

 a length of 5 mm. In a third specimen, 92 mm. long, the larger branches, which are 

 45 mm. long, develop simple lateral twigs. 



The ccenenchyma is thin and transparent. The polyps are placed perpendicularly 

 on the stem and branches at intervals of 3 to 4 mm. from one another. They form 



