2'?2 



iiiixed with these are a nuiuber of clubs (Fig. (S) and s]Dindles with 

 thick coarse tubercles about i mu]. x -05 mm. in size. On the 

 coenench\'ni the surface is armed ])rincipally with these clubs 

 and spindles, but a few more flattened forms ma\- be found among 

 tliem. It is mi].iossible to describe the man) \ a nations in form 

 and character oi' the spicules. Many of them are like the types 

 described, l)ut otners are quite irregular. When a fragment of 

 the hard crust which covers the surface is detaclied with needles 

 iind examined with the nucroscoj^e it is seen that the spicules arc; 

 tightly iainmed together to form an impeiielrabie armour. The 

 surface of the verrncse has a distinctly sqnamate appearance, the 

 plate like spicules slightly overla]:)])ing (Fig. 9b.). There are 

 also some long needles o'q mm. in length (Fig. ga) in the deeper 

 parts of the zooids. There can be little doubt 1 think that the 

 species is right!)' placed in the genus bnicella, and it appears to 

 be most closely related to Studer's (15) Juncclla tlexilis from 

 between Flat Island and Mauritius in 25 fathoms. It differs from 

 this, however, in its smaller size (the specimen of J. flexilis was 

 20 cm. in length), in its spiral form, m the more irregular arrange- 

 ment of the ven-ucap on the stock, in the presence of a bare track 

 on one side, and in some other peculiarities. 



This bare tr;i( k is seen in some other species oi Juncella. In 

 the description of juncella juncea from tlie Isle of Bourbon 

 Milne-Edwards and Haime state thai the calices leave some 

 trace of a median coenenchymatous space. Ridle)' (14) also 

 states that there is a distinct median grooxc in tlie s])ecimen of 

 juncella juncea obtained b)' the "Alert." 



The squamate armature of the veniiCcV shows some aftinities 

 with the characters of the Primnoidae, but, as the plate-like 

 s]:)icules are so small and there are no definite opercular ]:)lates, 

 its affinities with juncella are closer. It is noteworth)-, how- 

 ever, that in the Primnoine genus Cal)q3terinus the calices do not 

 occur on one side of the stock. The track which is free from 

 the calices in Calvpterinns, however, is covered hv the over- 

 lapping scales of the lateral calices so as to form a tube. These 

 bare tracks on one side of the stock in Juncella spiralis and 

 Calypterinus allmani have a certain resemblance to the bare 

 tracks on one side of the smaller branches of some forms of 

 Solenocaulon, and suggest the presence of symbiotic crustacea. 

 There is no evidence in support of this at present, but it would 

 he worth the trouble for an)- naturalist who has the opportunity 

 of dredging in these v.aters to note the character of any 

 Alpheidae or other animals that might possibl}' live with this 

 luncella. Dr. Gilchrist's note that nothing was found around 

 which the stock twisted is of the nature of a support for the sug- 

 gestion that the spiral form of the larger stocks is associated 

 with the presence of some epizoic animal. We may for the 

 present regard the spiral form and the bare track as characters 

 oi the species, but if they prove to be mere adaptations to an 



