12 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



bases of the tentacles themselves are three spinose slightly curved spindles, which 

 converge in pairs with their points directed towards the apex of the tentacle, while a 

 third, smaller and flatter, fills the space between the two convergent spindles. The 

 folded-in portion of the tentacles is also equipped with small spicules arranged en 

 chevron. 



The axis is horny and fibrous, its colour yellowish brown, darker in the older 

 parts, longitudinally grooved, with wide axial canal ; the presence of the canal causes 

 the thin twigs, when dried, to appear shrivelled up. As appears from the description, 

 this species resembles very closely the Mediterranean species Bebryce mollis. The 

 colony is, however, more branched, the polyp calyces are larger, and there are also 

 differences in the dimensions of the spicules. 



The colour of the colony is light brown in the specimens preserved in spirit, white 

 when dried. 



Habitat— Station 190; lat. 8° 56' S., long. 136° 5' E., Arafura Sea ; 49 fathoms; 

 green mud. 



Anthogorgia, Verrill. 



Anthogorgia, Verrill, Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. xlv. p. 412, 1868; Proc. Essex Inst., vol. vi. p. 

 44, Sept. 1869. 



The genus was established by Verrill for a species of Muriceidse from the China Sea, 

 Anthogorgia divaricata, Verrill, with the following diagnosis : — " Verruca? prominent, 

 tubular, the summit eight-rayed in contraction, formed by a thin integument, in the 

 surface of which large, long, mostly bent spindles are embedded at various angles, and 

 so interlaced as to form a sort of network of spicula with depressions between. 

 Ccenenchyma granulous, filled with large warty spicula similar to those of the 

 Verrucas, but usually shorter and stouter." Specimens taken during the voyage 

 of the " Gazelle," off the coast of West Australia, resemble in habit those of the genus 

 Villogorgia, Duch. and Mich., but they do not agree in the character of the spicules, 

 which are never spinose plates, but are spindle-shaped. Moreover, Anthomuricea, 

 Wright and Studer, which resembles Verrill's genus in the form of the calyces, differs 

 in the irregular distribution of the calyx spicules. It seems to me best to place in 

 this genus one of the Muriceidae from Japan, which was obtained among the Challenger 

 specimens. 



Anthogorgia japonica, n. sp. (PL III. figs. 2a, 2b; PI. V. fig. 6). 



The colony is upright, branching in one plane, and consists of a main axis, with twigs 

 and secondary twigs from its two sides. The horny axis is covered with a thin 



