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



In another paper on the Halcyonoid Polyps in Yale Museum, Verrill (52) describes a 

 new Gorgonid, Paramuricea cancellata, founded on a species of Dana's, which he regards 

 as probably equivalent to Antipathes Jlabellum, Esper (non Pallas), but in a later part of 

 the same review says that he has a species of Echinogorgia, which agrees exactly with 

 Esper's plate of Antipathes Jlabellum. In 1869 the same author described a new species, 

 Antvpathes panamensis, from Panama Bay. 



Pourtales in a number of papers published between 1867 and 1880, dealing chiefly 

 with the Coral Fauna of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico as explored by the 

 "Hassler" and "Blake" Expeditions, describes altogether eighteen species. Of these 

 eleven are described as new and the remaining seven are referred to Old World types or 

 to forms previously described from the AntUles. 



In 1867 and 1868 (51) three species were described as new. Two of these, viz., 

 Antipathes filix and Antipathes humilis, have zooids of a type which Pourtales terms 

 " sessile." The zooids are very short, so much so that in spirit specimens the spines of 

 the sclerenchyma project through the zooids in all directions. The third species, 

 Antipathes tetrasticha, has alternate double rows of branchlets, and small elongate 

 polyps. Two other species are also mentioned and partly defined. These appear in 

 a later paper (56) to have been identified as Antipathes dissecta, Duchassaing and 

 Michelotti, and Antipathes lenta, n. sp., although Pourtales does not refer to his former 

 descriptions. 



In his account of the Corals of the " Hassler " Expedition (58) four other species 

 are recorded, two of which are new. Of these, Antipathes abietina seems allied to 

 Antipathes filix, Pourtales, whilst Antipathes Fernandezii has apparently a similar 

 polyp to Antipathes tetrasticha, and perhaps belongs to the same genus. 



The other species recorded are Cirrhipathes desbonni, Duchassaing and Michelotti, 

 and Antipathes columnaris (Duchassaing). It appears, however, from a later paper by 

 the same author (71) that the form referred here to Cirrhipathes desbonni is a 

 spiral species differing essentially from that type, and was afterwards referred by 

 Pourtales to Cirrhipathes spiralis, Pallas. The second identification appears to me to 

 be equally erroneous, as the polyps in the species referred to are distributed in a single 

 longitudinal series, whereas in Cirrhipathes spiralis (Pallas), so far as I can ascertain, 

 they are arranged subspirally all around the axis. The species referred to by Pourtales, 

 which is particularly abundant in the West Indian Seas, is the one which I have selected 

 as the type of the new genus Stichopathes. 



The Corals of the " Blake " Expeditions are recorded in two papers. The earlier 

 one (64) includes descriptions of two species of Antipathidse not previously observed 

 by Pourtales. These were referred to Antipathes myriophylla, Pallas, and Antipathes 

 tristis, Duchassaing. In the later paper (71) Pourtales corrects an error referring to his 

 identification of Antipathes myriophylla, Pallas. It appears that the specimen referred 



