ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 261 



Coelentera. 



Australian Alcyonarians.* — E. A. Briggs reports on a collection of 

 Alcyonarians from the eastern and southern coasts of Australia, from 

 depths of 15 to 300 fathoms. The collection includes twenty-seven 

 species, of which three are new — Mopsea plumacea, M. repens, and 

 Plumarella australis. These are carefully described, with details as to 

 the polyps and spicules. To the descriptions of the other species, 

 previously given by Thomson and Mackinnon and others, some additions 

 are made. 



Pennatulacese of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal. f — J. Stuart 

 Thomson reports on a collection which includes Pteroeides isosceles sp. n. 

 and Umbellula acicuMfera sp. n. A careful study has been made of 

 Actinoptilum molle, probably the commonest Pennatulid in South 

 African seas. 



Madrepore Corals from Great Depths. J — Ch. Gravier directs 

 attention to the number of Madrepore corals dredged by the ' Prince of 

 Monaco ' from great depths (3000 to 4000 m.). Some forms occur 

 from 40 to over 3000 m. Most of them grow out of the ooze and other 

 bottom deposits ; some are attached to dead pieces of other corals, such 

 as Lophohelia. The soft parts are mostly rusty brown or black. The 

 polyps mostly feed on the rain of debris and dead animals of small 

 size. Some seem to grapple passing animals, for in the ccelenteron 

 of Stephanotrochus nobilis Gravier found fragments of Ophiuroids and 

 the tips of chelas belonging to a Crustacean of considerable size. He 

 remarks on associations of different kinds of corals, e.g. Caryophyllia 

 clavus Scacchi, G. arcuata Milne-Edwards and Haime, and Solenosmilia 

 variabilis Duncan. A well-known case is the association of Desmophyllum 

 crista galli Milne-Edwards and Haime with Amphihelia oculata L. and 

 Lophohelia prolifera (Pallas). The significance of the associations is 

 not known. Attention is directed to the occasional tendency to constrict 

 the opening of the calyx. The great majority of the abyssal Madrepores 

 are solitary forms. 



Fresh-water Medusoid from Limpopo River System.§ — G. Arnold 

 and C. L. Boulenger add to our previous knowledge of Limnocnida 

 rhodesiee Boulenger. The specimens were obtained from the Nbrquane 

 River, a minor tributary of the Limpopo. They varied from (J to 

 16 mm. in diameter. They were very transparent, but the tentacles 

 were milky-white and the umbrella edge and the base of the manubrium 

 were yellowish-white. They move at the rate of 12 to 14 in. per minute, 

 and the manubrium seems to help. They preferred the cooler water of 

 the deeper pools. They were not attacked by fishes. No traces of a 

 hydroid stage were found. 



* Biol. Eesults Fishing Experiments by F.I.S. ' Endeavour,' iii. (1915) pp. 

 61-94 (9 pis.). 



t Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. Phil. Soc., lix. (1915) pp. 1-26 (2 pis.). 



j Comptes Rendus, clx. (1915) pp. 380-2. 



§ Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1915, pp. 71-6 (1 pi. and 2 figs.). 



