REPORT ON THE ANTIPATHARIA. 113 



are more numerous iu some specimens than in others. No regular reticulum is formed, 

 and the distal portion of each paniculate branch at the apex of the corallum is free from 

 its neighbour. This is the most delicate species which has come under my notice, and 

 differs from the similarly delicate Antipathella f tristis (Duch.) both in the shape and 

 arrangement of the spines. The whole corallum is usually flat, but in one specimen a 

 laxly-branched portion extends in a plane behind the main-mass, and almost parallel 

 with it. In some of the specimens, although dry, the polyps are shown as very small 

 bead-like elevations on the brauchlets ; there are usually 9 or 10 to a centimetre. The 

 spines are short and conical with a slender apex (PI. XII. fig. 5). They are arranged in 

 steep sinistrorse spirals, which are rather far apart. Five longitudinal rows may be 

 counted from one aspect of a branchlet, the members of a row being from four to five 

 lengths apart. 



Habitat. — West Indies (Scrivener), Brit. Mus. 



Antipathella? gracilis (Gray) (PI. XL fig. 8). 



Antipathes gracilis, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, vol. vi., 1860, p. 311 ; (non 

 Antipathes (Cirrhipathes) gracilis, Gray). 



Gray's description is as follows : — 



" Coral rather fan-like, expanded, very slender, repeatedly forked. Branches very 

 slender, elongate, subsimple, tapering ; stem and branches covered with very close rather 

 elongate spinules. Hab. Madeira. 



" The coral is six inches high, rather fan-like, in a single plane ; stem slender, about as 

 thick as a thick bristle, subalternately branched, with the rows of branches on the outer 

 side, giving them the appearance of being forked ; the branches and brauchlets elongate, 

 very slender and subsimple and gradually tapering till they are quite hair-like." 



I am at a loss to understand Gray's description, as the only specimen in the British 

 Museum Collection which I could find, bearing the name Antipathes gracilis in his own 

 handwriting is 56 cm. high, and labelled from the West Indies. This specimen is 

 evidently related to other flabellate forms now included in the genus Antipathella. The 

 base consists of several stems fused together, which give rise to a series of branches 

 not all in the same plane, but presenting frequent fusions between neighbouring branches. 

 The upper portion is more spreading, but the larger branches are still strong and frequently 

 fuse with one another. In some portions nearly all the branches come off from one 

 side and are placed at irregular intervals. Nearly all the secondary branches are very 

 slender. Medium branches bear brauchlets irregularly, varying in length from 1'5 to 

 10 cm., usually longer on one side than the other. The smaller brauchlets are simple 

 and filiform ; the larger ones are again branched irregularly, the ultimate pinnules being- 

 very slender, and rarely attaining a length of 1"2 cm. without becoming branched. The 

 spines are similar in size and shape to those of Antipathella atlantica (Gray), but are 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. — PAST LXXX. — 1889.) Llll 15 



