THE 



VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGEB. 



ZOOLOGY. 



REPORT on the Antipatharia collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the 

 Years 1873-76. By George Brook, F.L.S., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on 

 Comparative Embryology in the University of Edinburgh. 



PREFACE. 



In June 1888 I was invited by Dr. John Murray to prepare a Report on the 

 Antipatharia obtained by the Challenger Expedition, aud the majority of the specimens 

 were soon afterwards placed in my hands for identification. 



Probably no group of marine animals has received so little systematic attention 

 during recent years as the Antipatharia, and our knowledge of their morphology has 

 hitherto been confined to a partial study of two or three species. The descriptions of 

 genera and species alike have been almost entirely based on skeletal characters, and prior 

 to the Challenger Expedition probably few specimens were in existence, the polyps of 

 which were well preserved. During the recent "Blake" and "Hassler" expeditions, 

 a number of new and interesting species were brought to light by the United States 

 Coast Survey, which have been described by Pourtales, but no attempt has been made 

 to rearrange the species already known in the light of these newer investigations. 



It soon became apparent that the Challenger collection, although not large, offered 

 exceptional facdities for a morphological study of the group, many of the more impor- 

 tant features of which have hitherto escaped notice. I have, therefore, taken this 

 opportunity of attempting a partial revision of the Antipatharia, and have endeavoured, 

 so far as opportunity would allow, to place the classification on a more natural basis. 

 In the time at my disposal I have been unable to visit many of the more important 

 Continental collections, and have relied chiefly on a comparison of the collections of the 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. PiET LXXX. — 1889.) L111 a 



