REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 219 



polyps are surmounted by spicules ; the heads, placed at wide distances from one 

 another, are distinguished from the white network of branches by means of their orange 

 colour. 



Height of the colony in the larger specimen 130 mm., in the smaller 74 mm.; length 

 of the barren stem in the larger specimen 30 mm., in the smaller specimen 12 mm. 



The barren portion of the stem is cylindrical and provided at the base with numerous 

 stolons, which, partly ramified, anchor the colony in the sandy mud. The outer covering 

 is fairly tough and somewhat granular towards the outside, less flabby than in the pre- 

 ceding species. After a slight constriction the stalk is continued into the tall, upright 

 stem, which gives off from all sides larger and smaller branches, and bifurcates at the 

 end into two branches diverging from one another at an obtuse angle. The remaining 

 branches come off from around the stem in an indistinct spiral, but the more strongly 

 developed branches, of which there are four or five, come off chiefly from two opposite 

 sides. These behave like the main stem and give origin to spirally arranged, smaller, 

 secondar}' branches. 



The large branches attain a leng;th of 30 to 45 mm., the smaller ones and the 

 secondary branches 6 to 10 mm. They stand at right angles to the stem. The 

 secondary branches, which are frequently somewhat flattened, soon divide into three or 

 four twigs, each of which bears three or four polyps. The polyps have long peduncles and 

 are placed at acute angles to one another. Usually one polyp has a longer stalk than its 

 neighbours, above which it projects. Flattening takes place also in the twigs, and on 

 many branches it is carried to such an extent that the twigs fuse together and form a 

 fan-like, indented-leaf, bearing the pedunculate polyps on its margin. The polyps may 

 be 1 to 4 mm. in length, while the diameter of the polyp heads is 1 mm. In the older 

 and larger colony, where also the tendency of the twigs to form fans is more strongly 

 marked, the stem is almost completely concealed by the luxuriant Ijranching, a condition 

 which is less obvious in the smaller specimen. The straight twigs, and especially the 

 peduncles of the pol}^ heads, are stiff and very rigid, so that they easily break off, 

 while the stem and the large branches have a more flabby consistence. 



The spicules which occur in the barren portion of the stem agree very closely in shape 

 with the corresponding spicules of the same portion of the preceding species. They are 

 spiny clubs, placed on a cross-shaped basal portion. This portion has four rays, placed 

 sometimes at right angles and sometimes more obliquely to one another. The rays are 

 provided at the end with spiny processes, and sometimes also one ray is more especially 

 developed. The distance between the apices of two rays reaches, on an average, 0'12 

 mm. A spiny club projects at right angles from the point where they cross one another ; 

 it is usually flattened in one direction, and its height reaches 0"1 mm. The cruciform 

 basal pieces are placed close together and form quite a thick network of calcareous sub- 

 stance, from which the spiny needles project above the surface in the form of rough warts. 



