EEPOET ON THE ANTIPATHAEIA. 91 



which the present species occurs.) The specimen here referred to is attached by thread 

 to a card, which also contains Gray's type of Cirrhipathes setacea, var. occidentalis. 

 Both specimens bear a register number, but neither are named, the card simply bearing 

 the inscription, "Madeira, J. Y. Johnson." This evidently cannot refer to the var. 

 occidentalis, as that came from Turk's Island, West Indies. The other specimen may 

 have been regarded by Gray as a specimen of his Cirrhipathes setacea, but certainly it 

 cannot be the type, as the species was described in 1860, and the specimen in question 

 was only received in 1872. This specimen, which is about 30 cm. long and 2 mm. in 

 diameter at the base, agrees in every respect with the specimens of Stichopathes gracilis, 

 here described. As I have no means of ascertaining what form Gray actually did regard 

 as Cirrhipathes setacea, and as his description of the type contains no characters not 

 applicable to this species, I have queried Cirrhipathes setacea as a probable synonym. 

 His Cirrhipathes setacea, var. occidentalis evidently, from his description, differs very 

 much from the type, and as I find the specimen to differ from any to which I have had 

 access, I have raised it to the rank of a species, under the name Stichoptathes 

 occidentalis (Gray). 



All the Madeira specimens here described agree in having a relatively slender non- 

 spiral axis, on which the polyps are placed in a single longitudinal row. 



The spines vary very much in size, shape, and relative frequency in different portions 

 of the axis, but the arrangement on portions of the same diameter is practically the 

 same in the various specimens referred to. In slender portions of the stem the spines 

 are arranged spirally, and also in longitudinal rows (PI. XII. fig. 17). They are 

 triangular, compressed, and stand out at right angles to the stem, those in one row being 

 about two lengths apart. Most are simple, and have a sharp apex, but a few are forked 

 at the tip. In somewhat older and thicker portions of the stem (PL XII. fig. 18) the 

 arrangement of spines is less regular. A few are simple and irregularly arranged, but 

 the majority form double spines, having two divergent apices united by a common swollen 

 base. This appearance is presumably brought about by the further deposition of horny 

 lamellae over spines which had already become bifid at the tip, each new layer tending to 

 make the bifid character more pronounced. In still older and thicker portions of the stem 

 (PI. XII. fig. 19), by a still greater increase in the thickness of the sclerenchyma, the 

 bases of the bifid spines become covered over, and in their place a number of simple spines 

 are to be found arranged in pairs close together, each pair having apparently been derived 

 from a primitively simple spine by the process indicated. The majority of the spines are 

 now simple, but some are short and broad, having the apex divided into a number 

 of processes giving a serrate appearance. 

 Habitat. — Madeira (Brit. Mus.). 



