EEPOET ON THE ANTIPATHAEIA. 85 



Habitat. — Fiji, 5 feet (Dana); Red Sea, (Klunzinger) ; Seychelles (Stephens), Brit, 

 Mus.; Billiton (Bolsius), Brit. Mus.; Ceylon (Ondaatje), Brit. Mus. 



Cirripathes spiralis (Linn.), Blainv., non Pourtales (PI. XII. fig. 10). 



Gorgonia spiralis, Limneus, Syst. nat., ed. x. 



Gorgonia abies, var. spiralis, Linnasus, op. cit., ed. xii. 



Antipathes spiralis, Pallas, Elench. Zooph.^ p. 217; Ellis and Solander, Zooph., p. 99, pi. 19, 



figs. 1-6 ; Esper, Pflanzenth., pt. ii., p. 154, pi. 8; Lamouroux, Polyp, j flex., p. 373; 



Expos, method., p. 31, pi. 19, figs. 1-6; non Pourtales, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 



vi. p. 114. 

 Cirrhipaihes spiralis, Blainville, Manuel d'Aetinol., p. 512, pi. 88, fig. 2; Dana, Zooph., p. 376; 



Milne-Edwards, Coralliaires, vol. i. p. 313 ; Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1857, p. 290. 



" A simplissima attenuata, flexuoso-spiralis, spinulis seriatis scabra. 



" Est culmus, simplicissimus, longissimus, crassitie fere calami scriptorii, teres, extremo 

 lentissime attenuatus, imo subflexuosus, deinde spirali volurnine pergens. Superficies 

 nitidnla punctis seu spinulis per longitudinales series digestis hispidus. Substantia atra, 

 cornea, rigidissima fragilisque ; medullari tubulo totuni culmum transcurrente " (Pallas, 

 op. cit.). In addition to the spiral form, which alone constitutes this species, Pallas 

 appears to have included the Palmijuncus anguinus, Rumph., a flexuose but non-spiral 

 species. Blainville was the first to doubt the identity of the two forms ; later, Dana 

 identified his Fiji specimens as probably the Palmijuncus anguinus, Rumph., and 

 accordingly named it Cirripathes anguina. The Antipathes spiralis, E. and S., is 

 perhaps the true spiral species and then- figures have been copied by subsequent authors. 

 On account of there being a considerable number of species with an elongated unbranched 

 axis, older authors appear to have confused several species under the same name, and in 

 the case of Cirripathes spiralis we have a number of records of localities, which certainly 

 require verification before they can be fully accepted. Such are the Mediterranean (Baker), 

 and Norway (Brunnichen). In the British Museum Collection there are two specimens 

 which I regard as belonging to this species, one from Ceylon and the other from Kurrachee. 

 The collection also contains another spiral form, different from those I have regarded as 

 the type, and also from the Antipathes spiralis, Pourtales. This I have named Cirri- 

 pathes diversa, but as older authors have not given us exact details of the arrangement 

 of spines, which, in the absence of polyps, form the only guide to identification, 1 cannot 

 be sure that the species selected by me to represent Cirripathes sp>iralis, is really the 

 form described by Pallas. In the Ceylon specimens, though dry, it is easy to make out 

 that the polyps have been distributed all around the axis and not in a single longitudinal 

 series. The height of the specimen, not allowing for the spirals, which are close and well 

 marked, is 90 cm.; the diameter at the base a little under 3 mm.; and at the tip 1"6 mm. 

 The spirals are wound from left to right. The Kurrachee specimen is about 76 cm. long 



