102 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER 



Habitat. — Mediterranean (Pallas) ; ? Indian Ocean (Rumphius, Lamarck) ; Dirk 

 Hartog, West Australia, 45 to 50 fathoms, Mermaid Channel, 50 fathoms (Studer), 

 " Gazelle " Expedition. 



Antipathes virgata, Esper (PI. XI. figs. 13, 14). 



Antipathes virgata, Esper, Pflanzenth., (Fortsetz.), pt. ii. p. 8, pi. xiv. 



Antipathes seoparia, Lamarck, Hist. nat. anirn. sans vert., t. ii. p. 307 ; Milne-Edwards, Coralli- 

 aires, t. i. p. 319. 



"Antipathes ramis dichotomis, ramulis strictis, virgatis, aculeatis" (Esper, op. tit.). 



I have had considerable difficulty in deciding as to the identity of this species, on 

 account of the fact that there are two specimens in the British Museum, which are 

 specifically distinct, and both of which may be considered to agree with the original 

 description of Esper. There seems no sufficient ground for supposing Antipathes seoparia, 

 Lamarck, to differ specifically from Antipathes virgata, Esper, indeed, Lamarck himself 

 gave Esper's name in the synonymy without a query. On the other hand, Esper's form was 

 sent to him from the East Indies, whereas Lamarck gives the Mediterranean as the habitat 

 of his form. I am not aware that any specimen, agreeing with the characters of Anti- 

 pathes seoparia, Lamarck, has since been recorded from the Mediterranean. 



Esper, in describing the spines of his species and comparing them with those of other 

 forms, makes use of the following expression {op. cit., p. 9) : — " Sie sind hochstens, nur 

 dichter angehiiuft, und in gleichformigere Reihen geordnet." On this account I have 

 retained the form having the stouter and more closely packed spines under Esper's specific 

 name Antipathes virgata, and have described the allied form as new. This course is in 

 harmony with the identifications of Professor Liitken, who has specimens of what may 

 prove to be both forms in the Copenhagen Museum. 



The British Museum specimen referred to is 1*5 m. high, shrub-like, and densely 

 branched, the long tapering branches being mostly directed upwards. The base is 2 "5 

 cm. in diameter, and soon gives rise to a number of very long tapering branches, some of 

 which, for a length of 5 to 8 cm., are spirally twisted. In other cases it appears as if a 

 branch had become bifurcated for a short distance, the two parts being twisted together, 

 and then above they become confluent again. The branching in the upper portion of the 

 corallum is dichotomous, each branch bearing a number of elongate branchlets (15 to 50 

 cm.) mostly on one side. These arise at an acute angle and are mostly arched inwards 

 so as to take an upward course. The whole corallum gradually tapers from base to 

 apex, and there is no sudden diminution in diameter in passing from branch to branch- 

 let in any part. In some cases a branchlet, after a short course of 8 or 10 cm., bends 

 inwards and fuses with the branch from which it was derived, but, in most cases, the 

 branches and branchlets are free. The sclerenchyma is black and glossy in all parts of 



