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



tudinal rows, seven of which may be counted from one aspect. The members of a row are 

 about one length apart. The spines are much compressed, and have an elongated base ; 

 they are much longer and more slender than those of Antipathes virgata. They have a 

 length about equal to half the diameter of a pinnule and taper to a sharp point. All the 

 spines are simple, and no tubercles were observed on any of them. 



This species is readily distinguished from Antipathes virgata by the marked difference 

 in diameter between the branches and branchlets, the latter being very numerous, slender, 

 and pale in colour. The spines of the two species are also quite different. 



Habitat.— Jeddah, Eed Sea, Capt. Wharton, H.M.S. "Fawn" (Brit. Mus.); Indian 

 Ocean? "Galatea" Expedition (Copenhagen Mus.). 



Antipathes ? furcata, Gray (PL XL fig. 2). 



Antipathes furcata, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1857, p. 291. 



" Coral, shrub-like, branched, repeatedly forked ; branches, slender, elongate, filiform; 

 stem, slender, short, and smooth" (Gray, loc. cit.). 



Gray's type in the British Museum appears to me to represent only the apical portion 

 of a branch with its branchlets of some large species allied to Antipathes virgata, Esper. 

 The whole specimen is about 16 cm. high. The stem (?) is very slender and curved some- 

 what to one side ; it bears a number of elongate bristle-like branches, all directed 

 subvertically, and reaching about the same height. The branches give off secondary 

 branches at irregular intervals, frequently from one side only ; the lower ones bear a third 

 series of branchlets, usually on one side only, giving rise to the " repeatedly forked " 

 arrangements referred to by Gray. Nearly all the branchlets are directed upwards, and 

 most of them reach the apex of the corallum, giving a subcorymbose growth. The axis 

 throughout is very slender and brittle. The spines are short, triangular, and compressed, 

 with the apex at right angles to the axis. They are apparently not arranged in regular 

 spirals. Six longitudinal rows are visible from one aspect, the individual members of 

 which are very far apart. Length of spine = J diameter of axis ; they are separated by an 

 interval equal to three or four times their length (PL XL fig. 2). The members of two 

 adjoining rows are subopposite, recalling the arrangement in Antipathes meditcrranea, 

 n. sp. 



Habitat. — Madeira (Mason), Brit, Mus. 



Antipathes ? mediterranea, n. sp. (PL XL fig. 9). 



Stem (?) straight or subflexuose, round, elongate, about 35 cm. long and 2 mm. in dia- 

 meter below, very slightly tapering. Branches very distant, 4 to 9 cm. apart, mostly at right 

 angles to the stem, but not all in the same plane. They are usually arranged singly, but 



