REPORT ON THE ANTIPATHARIA. 131 



Aphanipathes? humilis (Pourt.). 



Antipathes humilis, Pourtales, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zobl., 1868, p. 112 ; Cat. Mus. Comp. Zobl., 

 No. iv., 1871, p. 54; Ibid., No. viii., 1874, p. 46, pi. ix., fig. 9; Bull. Mus. Comp. Zobl., 

 1878, p. 210; Ibid., 1880, p. 118, pi. iii. figs. 18, 19, 32. 



Mode of branching dense and irregularly subflabellate, like a spray of heather ; 

 branches irregularly dichotomous, spreading more laterally than vertically, height 7 '5 to 

 10 cm., spread 10 to 12*5 cm. Spines slender, and longer than the diameter of the 

 branch, very dense, forming alternate dilations and contractions, each dilation corre- 

 sponding to a polyp. 



Polyps all on the same side of the flabellum, about one diameter apart. Tentacles 

 very short, when contracted forming small knobs, shorter than the spines, and placed in two 

 longitudinal rows, with the mouth between the middle pair. The spines surrounding the 

 polyp larger than in other parts, and largest inside the polyp, in the spaces between the 

 tentacles. Mouth surmounting a tubercle, surrounded by about twelve papillae in a close 

 circle ; a second circle of papdlse occurs on the peristome just inside the tentacles, and 

 similar ones are scattered on the whole surface of the ectoderm. 



A variety dredged off Barbadoes differs from the type by its more simple and regular 

 mode of branching. The short stem throws off on each side at different heights a simple 

 branch forming a short curve and then growing parallel to the main stem. From the base 

 of that branch another sets off in the same manner, and so on, so that the whole resembles 

 certain fruit trees trained on a wall. The type specimens branch according to the same 

 plan, but do not adhere to it so regularly. Pourtales gives a photograph of this variety 

 in his Catalogue of Corals (pi. ix. fig. 9), which suggests at once the habit of Eunicea 

 succinea, Esp. 



The arrangement of spines in this species is most curious. The axis is clothed with 

 a dense mass of acicular spines, which on the posterior surface are relatively short and 

 directed upwards. On the zooidal surface of a branch they form dense moniliform tufts, 

 each corresponding to a polyp. The tufts are oval in outline, and consist of innumerable 

 elongate spines radiating in all directions. The polyps in spirit specimens are almost 

 completely hidden amongst the elongate spines, which project for a considerable distance 

 beyond the surface of the peristome. 



Habitat. — Abundant off Havana in 270 fathoms ; also in 76-262 fathoms at four 

 stations off Montserrat, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Barbadoes (Pourtales.) 



Aphanipathes? thyroides (Pourt.). 



Antipathes thyroides, Pourtales, Bull Mus. Comp. Zobl., 1880, p. 115, pi. iii. figs. 17 and 31. 



Corallum densely flabellate, but entirely without adherences of branchlets, which 

 ramify from the sides of the branches without showing any regular pinnate arrangement. 



