REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 155 



cally grooved on the surface. Polj'ps arranged in spirals or sometimes in rows on the 

 stem ; tentacles and upper portion of the polyps retractile within prominent verrucse. 

 Coenenchyma moderately thick, with spiny spindles and double clubs forming a roughened 

 outer layer. The following four species are from the Pacific Ocean. 



The known species of Scirpearia, Studer, are from the Atlantic Ocean. 



Scirpearella profunda, n. sp. (PL XXXI. fig. 2; PI. XXXII. fig. 1 ; PI, XXXIV. fig. 7). 



The colony is feebly branched ; the specimen occurs in fragments, of which that 

 figured on PI. XXXI. was the first found in the contents of the dredge ; afterw^ards 

 several others were disentangled from the tow, and an attempt to put them together has 

 been made in the figure on PL XXXII. , which is drawn of the natural size. 



The main axis is attached by a calcareous oval disc, 11 mm. by 6 mm.; the stem is 

 slightly curved, and at a height of about 80 mm. gives off" one slender simple branch of 

 about 100 mm. in length; a second similar branch is given off" in the same plane, and 

 from the same side, at an interval from the first of 10 mm. 



The basal diameter of the main stem is 4 mm., and it has the same diameter for 

 some distance beyond the origin of the second branch. The main axis then appears to 

 divide into two terminal branches. The axis is calcareous, brittle, and of a circular 

 outline, with some spiral grooves, it is formed of several concentric calcareous layers 

 which easily peel off"; without the coenenchyma it is 2'5 mm. in diameter. 



The polyps are in irregular spirals on the stem and branches, from 2 to 3 mm. apart ; 

 closer to one another towards the termination of the branches, with a width at base of 



1 mm. While all the polyps are capable of being completely retracted, the older polyps 

 appear to develop a more conical shaped verrucae than the younger ones, and when the 

 tentacles are folded together, and the pol^-ps invaginate themselves, they do so in a 

 one-sided manner, that portion of the polyp nearer the axis being drawn in more deeply 

 than that furthest off", so that an appearance is presented of a shallow ledge, that 

 reminds one of the edible nests of the swallow [CaUocalia). Afterwards this flap-like 

 protuberance is also drawn in, leaving an oblong conical verruca, which measures about 



2 mm. in its greater diameter. The coenenchyma is moderately thick, and finely 

 granular ; the outer layer consists of double clubs, the inner layer of the same but of a 

 smaller size ; in the polyps quadrate or stellate forms and a few needle-shaped spicules 

 with spiny edges are met with ; the spicules are very uniform in size. The spindles 

 measure 0-1-0-04 mm.; the double clubs 0-1-0-05 ; 0-08-0-04 ; 0-06-0-02 mm.; the 

 stellate forms O'OB-O-OB ; 0'08-0'06 mm.; the needle-shaped forms 0'06-0'02 mm. 



The colour in spii'its is a whitish-brown. 



Habitat. — Station 177, off" the New Hebrides; depth, 130 fathoms; bottom, 

 volcanic sand. 



