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



Synopsis of Species. 



1. Coralliun large, laxly branched, irregularly diehotomous ; spines large, sub-triangular, 



much, compressed ; the upper margin extends subhorizontally, . . . dichotoma, Pall. 



(2-3. Definite specific characters for Antipathes arborea, Dana, and Antipathes famiculacea, 

 Pallas, cannot be given at present). 



4. Coralluni large, densely branched, resembling the Broom ; the whole gradually tapering 



towards the apex; spines short, thick, and blunt, often papillose, . . virgata, Esper. 



5. Corallum large, spreading, with very long slender branchlets; spines similar to those 



of Antipathes dichotoma, but more numerous and slender, . . . lentipinna, n. sp. 



6. Corallum small, slender, with repeatedly forked filiform branches; spines short, sub- 



conical, with a sharp apex, ....... furcata, Gray. 



7. Corallum very laxly branched, with distant subhorizontal branches ; branchlets few and 



rarely lateral ; spines large and thorn-like, without spiral arrangement, . . mediterranea, n. sp. 



Antipathes dichotoma Pallas (non Gray) (PI. XII. fig. 16 ; PL XIII. figs. 1, 9 ; PI. 

 XIV. figs. 1, 5, 6). 



Lithophyte, No. 9, Marsigli, Hist. phys. de la mer, pp. 105 and 168, pi. 21, figs. 101, 102, 103 ; 



pi. 40, fig. 179. 

 Antipiathes dichotoma, Pallas, Elench. Zooph., p. 216; Dana, Zooph., p. 585; Milne-Edwards, 



Coralliaires, t. i. p. 319 ; non Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1832, p. 41. 



"Antipathes longissima, dichotoma, erecta " (Pallas, loc. cit.). 



This species was described by Pallas from the information supplied in Marsioli's 

 Histoixe physique de la mer. Marsigli obtained his specimen in 140 fathoms, off 

 Marseilles. The corallum is two feet high, and the diameter at the base only l| lines. 

 The stem is branched subalternately, the branches, which are not very open, beino- 

 branched dichotoruously at considerable intervals, the ultimate branchlets being usually 

 divided in the same manner. The axis is covered with spines, and in addition a 

 substance, which Marsigli compares to varnish, is developed on the stem, so that in the 

 lower portion of the corallum the spines are almost obscured by it. On the branchlets 

 where this substance is not so thick the spines stand out boldly. 



Marsigli, who kept his specimen alive for several days in a jar of sea-water, gives the 

 following account of the polyps : — 



"Les extremitez des rameaux etoient entournees de petits globes de substance 

 gelatineuse, et jaunatre, n'ayant ancune union entr'eux, et y semblaut plutot enfilez, 



comme des grains de chapelets dans de la foye Je vis les petits globes prendre 



plusieurs figures oblongues, qui sur le haut avoient deux filamens tels que B. B." In 

 the figure referred to (op. cit., pi. xxii. fig. 104), the polyps are shown in two longi- 

 tudinal subopposite series, each zooid consisting of an oblong body, from the free rnaroin 

 of which a pair of thread-like tentacles take their origin. There must surely be con- 

 siderable error in this account, both as regards the number of tentacles and the arrano-e- 

 ment of the polyps. 



