112 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGES. 



Antipathella f atlantica (Gray), mihi. (PL XII. fig. 5). 



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

 Antipathes reticulata, Gray (non Esper), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1857, p. 291. 



"Coral shrub-like, branched; branches fan-like, irregularly pinnate; branchlets 

 elongate, with distant subulate pinnae, the larger ones sometimes pinnated, the branches 

 and branchlets often anastomosing" (Gray, loc. cit.). 



I find no specimen in the British Museum Collection which bears the name Anti- 

 pathes atlantica, but there are a number of West Indian specimens which should 

 include the type of this species. All bear the locality and register number in Gray's 

 handwriting ; one bears the name Antipathes reticulata, also in his handwriting, the 

 others are either unnamed or have been since queried by S. 0. Ridley. There appears 

 nothing in Gray's definition of the two species to enable one to distinguish one from the 

 other, excepting that Antipathes reticulata is described as more slender. 



The specimen, labelled Antipathes reticulata by Gray, is small (30 by 25 cm.) 

 and very delicate throughout. The base of the main stem is about 2 mm. in diameter. 

 It, however, bears no resemblance to Esper's figure of Antipathes reticulata (Pall.), and 

 lacks the definite reticulum, the short setose pinnules, and has not nearly such strong spines. 

 A much stronger specimen which I at first thought to be distinct, and probably Gray's 

 type of Antipathes atlantica, proves to be merely a larger specimen of the same species 

 having stouter branches ; the fusions are not so numerous amongst the apical 

 branches, which thus become more free . and arranged in fan-like groups. The spines 

 have precisely the same arrangement as in Gray's type of Antipathes reticulata, but are 

 more numerous on account of the greater strength of the axis. As this species differs 

 from the true A ntipathella reticulata (Esper), and as it is possible that Gray, like myself, 

 may have been misled by a cursory examination of the larger specimen, I propose to 

 retain the specific name atlantica for the species now described. It is synonjmious with 

 Antipathes reticulata (Gray), and may probably also be the species which Gray intended 

 as his Antipathes atlantica. 



This species has a similar habit to Gray's Antipathes gracilis, but is much more 

 delicate. One specimen is 24 cm. high and 34 cm. broad, another 36 cm. high and 

 only 28 cm. broad ; all have a dilated base for attachment. The stem is slender, from 

 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, and the basal branches are fused together by transverse bridges. 

 The secondary branches are arranged at irregular intervals and are nearly always very 

 slender; they are subalternate, and from 6 to 12 cm. long. The smaller branches bear 

 lateral, distant, pinnate, bipinnate or, in some cases, tripinnatc branchlets, usually more 

 numerous on one side of the branch than on the other, and all extending almost in one 

 plane. Branchlets (pinnules) up to 1 or 1*5 cm. in length usually remain simple, the 

 others being all more or less subdivided. Fusions are frequent throughout a colony, but 



