REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 79 



5. Caligorgia Jlahellum (Ehrenberg) (PL XIV. fig. 2). 



Prijmnoa flaheilum, Ehhg., Corall. d. rotli. Meeres, p. 134. 

 Gorgonia verticillaris, Esper, Fortsetz. d. Pflanzenthiere, i. p. 156, pi. slii. 

 XipJwcelJa esiieri, Gray, Cat. Lithophytes Brit. Mus., p. 36. 

 CaUigorgia vertidUata, var., Gray, loc. cit., p. 35. 

 CaUkella elegans, Gray, loc. cit., p. 37. 



CaUigorgia flaheilum, Studer, Monatsber. d. k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, 1878, p. 646, Taf. 

 ii. fig. 13, a, b. 



The species was founded by Ehreuberg for a Primnoid which the Berlin Museum had 

 received with the Gerresheim collection. The species is not difficult to distinguish from 

 others, especially from Caligorgia verticillata (Pall.). The axis of the main stem and of the 

 main branches are compressed ; this circumstances gave Gray occasion for the formation 

 of his genus Xiphocella. The twigs come off at sharp angles on both sides of the stem 

 and branches in alternating series. The number of cells forming a whorl varies ; on the 

 thicker branches there are eight, on the thinner six calyces, on the thin terminal twigs 

 only four. Gray figures such terminal twigs under the name of Calicella elegans. 

 The generic character which should separate Calicella from Caligorgia, namely the 

 dichotomous ramification of the branches, exists here to as slight an extent as in 

 any Gorgonid. The length of the polyps reaches up to 1 mm. They have four 

 longitudinal rows of spicules, which cover the dorsal and lateral sides of the calyx ; 

 the ventral side is naked, only at the edge of the oral disc there are several small 

 scales developed. 



The operculum consists of eight scales, of which the ventral ones are the innermost 

 and smallest. The form of the spicules is very characteristic. The calyx scales are broader 

 than High, the prominences are elongated into sharp spines, which project from the 

 surface of the calyx and form sharp projections on the edge. Length to breadth in mm. 

 — 0-23-0-35 ; 0-28-0-47; 0-26-0-33; 0-3-0-4. The opercular scales are large, the 

 prominences up to the edge are produced into spines, and the lateral edges are toothed. 

 A median keel is present in the dorsal opercular scales, which reach up to 07 mm. in 

 length ; the lateral ones attain a length of 0'5 mm. with a base of 0'25 mm.; the ventral 

 ones 0"4 to 0*1 2. With these forms of spicules those of the type specimen of Gray's 

 Calicella elegans agree. 



The Challenger collection contains only a few branches, which in accordance with 

 the structure of the calyx scales must be referred to this species. Their twigs are very 

 robust and the calyces large and well developed ; six to eight calcyes form a whorl. The 

 species has been obtained from Japan, Formosa, and the western part of the Indian 

 Ocean. The Japanese specimens have the spines on the scales more strongly developed 

 than those from the Indian Ocean or than those from the original specimen described 

 by Ehrenberg. 



