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



pennacea, Pallas, from the Paris Museum, has led me to suppose that all belong to one 

 species, for which it is necessary to retain the specific name proposed by Pallas. 



The St. Helena specimen is dull greenish grey in colour, and bears beautiful feather- 

 like branches which extend in various directions. Each branch consists of a straight 

 axis, from 4'5 to 10 cm. long, bearing a double row of simple and subequal pinnules 

 which are alternate and close together. There are usually about twelve to a centimetre. 

 The pinnules are somewhat flattened, and are usually about 2'5 cm. long, though an 

 occasional one here and there may be 1 to 1'5 cm. longer. All are simple in this 

 specimen. In the Paris specimen the arrangement is the same, excepting that on some 

 of the branches one or two of the pinnules become elongate and pinnate. 



Another specimen approaches Aphanipathes alata in habit, but has, of course, only 

 two rows of pinnules instead of four. The plumose branches are 4 to 15 cm. long, and 

 the pinnules are not so regular in size as in the other specimens referred to. They vary 

 from 2 to 4 cm. in length. On many of the branches certain of the pinnules, often on 

 the same side, become more elongate, and bear a secondary series of alternate pinnules. 

 The spines are very long and crowded. Each spine has a moderately broad base ; it 

 then becomes much compressed, and the upper and lower margins are nearly parallel for 

 the greater part of their course, when the spine quickly tapers to a sharp point. They 

 are arranged in longitudinal rows and probably also in dextrorse spirals. The spines 

 have a length equal to about two and a half times the diameter of a pinnule. The members 

 of a row are less than one length apart. 



Habitat. — East Indies (Pallas) ; St. Helena (Brit. Mus.). 



Aphanipathes'? eupteridea (Lamx.). 



Antipatlies Euptiridea, Larnouroux, Encyclop. method., p. 71; Duchassaing, Rev. d. Zooph. et d. 



Spongiaires des Antilles, 1870, p. 22; M.-Edwards, Coralliaires, t. i. p. 315. 

 Antipathes eupteridea, Pourtales, Bull. Mus. Couip. Zool., 1880, p. 117, pi. iii. fig. 11. 



Sclerobasis in simple branches, nearly triangular ; pinnules simple, spinose, and 

 elegantly incurved. Larnouroux compares his specimen to a peacock's feather. Duchas- 

 saing merely mentions the species as occurring in the West Indies. 



Pourtales obtained a specimen off Martinique, which he considered referable to this 

 species. He compares the branching to that of some Plumularida3 (e.g., Cladocarpa 

 paradisea, Alln.). The main stem, which was dead at the top, must have been 40 to 50 

 cm. high. Pinnules alternate, about 40 mm. long. Spines nearly cylindrical, rather dense, 

 subequal, very little larger about the polyps. The polyps are very small and " sessile." 



Habitat. — Off Martinique, in 96 fathoms (Pourtales). The type specimen came from 

 the same area. 



