2l8 



zcoids that is satisfactory for comparison, as their size must de- 

 pend very much on the degree of contraction of the general 

 coenenchym. Between two points of the compasses fixed at 

 5 mm. apart from 7-9 siphonozooids may be counted. In A. 

 agaricus the siphonozooids are o"/ mm. apart. 



The spicules are of two kinds. At the surface of the 

 coenenchym they are very irregular in form and very abundant. 

 They may be technically called clubs or double clubs or spindles, 

 but with their form masked by the long spiny tubercles. The 

 majority of them are about " 1 5 mm. in length. Below the im- 

 mediate surface of the coenenchym there are many long needles 

 irregularly spined and warted. They may be swollen in the 

 middle or at one extremity, but more usually are fairly uniform 

 m diameter. These needles vary very much in length, but some 

 I have measured are over o"/ mm. in length, with a maximum 

 diameter of 0*04 mm. Similar needles have been described in 

 A canadensis (o'5) and A. steenstrupii (o'5) by Wright and 

 Studer, and in A agaricus by Studer, but they do not appear to 

 reach quite such a length as they do in the Cape specimen of 

 A. grandiflorus. 



The spicules of the body wall of the anthocodiae are spiny 

 sclerites o-o5-o-o7 mm, in length, and of the tentacles tubercu- 

 lated rods o'l x -03 mm. The colour of all the spicules is red. 



The occurrence of this genus and species in Cape waters is a 

 fact of considerable interest. It is the first recorded instance 

 of the genus occurring elsewhere than in the Atlantic Ocean, 

 north of the Equator (except A. steenstrupii W. and S. (23), 

 off Japan). This is just the region from which the genus Sar- 

 cophytum, so common and abundant in the shallow waters of 

 the Indian and Pacific Oceans, is absent. 



In my last paper I recorded the existence in 32*^53 S., 28*^12 

 E., 45 fathoms, of a species which I placed in the genus Sar- 

 cophytum under the name S. trochiforme. At the time I hesi- 

 tated whether S. trochiforme should be placed in the genus 

 Sarcophytum or the genus Anthomastus. The small size of the 

 autozooids and the relatively large size of the siphonozooids, how- 

 ever, appeared to me to point to its proper place being in the genus 

 Sarcophytum. I see no reason to dissent from that view now. 

 At the same time, there are some respects in which S. trochi- 

 forme does approach the genus Anthomastus. and it is clearly 

 an intermediate form. 



It is an interesting fact that, whereas Sarcophytum is essen- 

 tially a shallow water genus (only two species occurring in water 

 as deep as 1 8 fathoms), and Anthomastus is a deep-water genus, 

 occurring in water from 200 to over 1,000 fathoms in depth; 

 Sarcophytum trochiforme, the intermediate form, was found in 

 45 fathoms. 



