REPORT ON THE ANTIPATHARIA. 103 



the corallum, and in the upper portion of the corallum has a diameter of 3 to l - 5 

 mm. The spines on the more slender branchlets are sometimes arranged in irregular and 

 very steep spirals, which take a course of 4 or 5 cm. to complete one revolution of the axis, 

 but, more usually, such a spiral arrangement is not marked. The spines are short, thick, 

 and subcylindrical, having a blunt apex. They are usually crowded, about one length 

 apart, and are arranged in regular longitudinal rows, six or seven of which may be counted 

 from one aspect. In such cases a subregular spiral arrangement may be seen much 

 closer than that previously referred to. In some portions of the corallum nearly all the 

 spines are smooth but one here and there has a rough granulose apex (PL XL fig. 13). 

 In other portions all the spines are covered with irregular wart-like prominences (PL XL 

 fig. 14). In the Copenhagen specimen, already referred to, the base is very thick and 

 gives rise at once to a number of spreading branches, as in a willow. These bear a 

 number of very elongate branches, which arise from one side only and are generally close 

 together. These, in turn, may bear another series of two to four branchlets of similar 

 diameter, and usually on one side only. The height of the corallum is l'l m. The 

 branchlets all ultimately take a sub vertical direction. The spines are somewhat tuber- 

 culate in the newer portions of the colony ; below they are arranged in relatively distant 

 longitudinal rows. Lacaze Duthiers has examined the polyps of this species ; they are 

 large, and arranged in a single row on the upper surface of the branchlets. 



Habitat. — Persian Gulf (Brit. Mus.) ; Indian Ocean (Esper) ; ? Mediterranean 

 (Lamarck). 



Antipathes? lentipinna, n. sp. (PL XL fig. 19). 



Corallum shrub-like, irregularly branched ; stem and main branches relatively stout 

 and black. Branchlets and pinnules slender and light brown. This species has a general 

 resemblance to Antipathes virgata, Esper, but its branches are more spreading. A speci- 

 men in the British Museum is T37 m. in height. The stem and main branches are 

 thick ; the latter give rise to a large number of elongate slender branchlets, often 60 cm. in 

 length. These bear a number of filiform pinnules, from 8 to 15 cm. in length, wduch are 

 generally collected together near the upper portion of the branchlet, and are usually con- 

 fined to one side. They are sometimes very numerous, and often occur with considerable 

 regularity at intervals of 4 to 10 mm. The sclerenchyma is thick and black in the 

 stronger portions of the corallum, but thin and golden brown elsewhere. The scleren- 

 chyma of the elongate branchlets is sufficiently thick to retain its circular outline when 

 dry, but that of the pinnules is merely membranous, and collapses under such conditions. 

 The spines are arranged with considerable regularity on the sclerobasic axis in a spiral, 

 which may be either dextrorse or sinistrorse. They are arranged very regularly in longi- 



