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



Stichopathes echinulata, n. sp. (PL XII. fig. 9). 



Corallum slender, elongate, distinctly tapering; spines much compressed , arranged in 

 very steep spirals. 



The type of this species is in the British Museum (Reg. No. 82.2.21.5), and is from 

 Mauritius. The stem is 1 m. long, and 2 "5 mm. in diameter at the base. Amongst the more 

 slender forms it is more distinctly tapering than any with which I am acquainted. The 

 specimen is dry, and the polyps are preserved on a portion of the axis, where they are 

 distributed in a single row. This species comes nearest to Stichopathes occidentalis (Gray) 

 in the form of the spines. They are short, triangular, much compressed, and directed 

 upwards. They are arranged in subregular spirals, which are steeper than those of 

 Stichopathes occidentalis, and apparently are sinistrorse instead of dextrorse. The spines 

 also form regular longitudinal rows, nine or ten of which may be counted from one 

 aspect. The members of a row are about three lengths apart. 



Habitat. — Mauritius (Brit. Mus.). 



Stichopathes? desbonni (D. & M.). 



CirrJiipathes Desbonnii, Duchassaing and Michelotti, Mem. Acad. Torino, ser. 2, t. xxiii. p. 142 ; 

 . Pourtales, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zobl., 1880, p. 114, pi. iii. figs. 6, 7. 



" Species lenta, nee fiexuose spiralis, simplex, filiformis, caudata, nigra, spinis 

 minutis, confluentibus " (D. & M., loc. cit., p. 142). To this scanty description I am 

 able to add the later and more definite observations of Pourtales who identified it 

 amongst the collections made by Agassiz during the " Blake " Expedition to the 

 Caribbean Sea. This form was obtained growing in clusters, a dozen or more stems from 

 an expanded base. Each stem is undivided, slender, straight, or slightly bent, but never 

 in a spiral, and hollow near the apex. The spines are small and rather blunt, arranged 

 in regular verticils, of which there are about thirty to a centimetre, each verticil being 

 composed of about twenty spines. Vertically the spines are disposed in straight rows, not 

 winding spirally round the stem as in other forms. On the older parts of the stem the 

 verticils lose their regularity, but can always be recognised. The tips of the stems 

 are membranous, and collapsed when dry, being thin and hollow, with the spines 

 already quite distinct (cf. Pourt., loc. cit., pi. iii. figs. 6, 7). Longest stem 70 cm., 

 diameter at base 1'5 mm. Polyps not observed. 



Habitat. — Guadeloupe (Duch. & Mich.); off Montserrat, 88 fathoms (Pourtales). 



Stichopathes? occidentalis (Gray) (PI. XII. figs. 7, 8). 



CirrJiipathes setacea, var. occidentalis, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, vol. vi. p. 311. 

 Gray's type of this form is 2 - 74 m. long, very slender and tapering ; the base is 2 mm. 

 in diameter, and the apex 0"2 mm. The whole stem is like a slender whip lash, and 



