REPORT ON THE ANTIPATHARIA. 165 



semper in latum expansus, rigidus, inordinatus. Truncus ab imo fere ramosus, creberrime 

 subdivisus. Rami divaricati curvuli confusique assurgunt, creberrimisque ramulis 

 alternis vel subsecundis, reclinatis fere, inter se coalescunt ; junioribus passim, setaceis 

 sparsi. Lignum atrum, scabrum, setaceis ramulis hispidius, subtestaceum " (Pallas, 

 op. tit.). 



Morison's specimen (6, No. 18, pi. x.), which Pallas includes in this species, has, 

 as already stated, a close resemblance to the lower part of the corallum of Antipathella 

 contorta. The branches are strong, and form an irregular reticulum ; the branchlets are 

 extremely slender, pinnate or bipinnate. It does not appear from the definition of 

 Pallas that much stress is laid on this marked contrast between the thickness of the 

 branches and branchlets. 



An old and fragmentary specimen in the British Museum may possibly be referable 

 to this species, but the branchlets are not nearly so delicate as those figured by Morison. 

 This specimen differs from all other Antipathinse, with the exception of the genus 

 Arachnopathes, M.-Edw., as I understand it, in possessing a corallum which, though 

 flattened, is 6 or 8 cm. thick. A figure of the arrangement of the spines in this specimen 

 is given on PI. XL fig. 10. 



Habitat. — Indian Ocean. 



Arachnopathes aculeata, n. sp. (PI. XL fig. 11). 



Corallum consisting of a delicate oval mass of branches and branchlets 24 cm. high, 

 20 cm. broad, and 11 cm. thick. The branchlets and pinnules are somewhat flexible, and 

 not fused into such a firm mass as in other species of the genus. The branches are 

 slender and irregularly divided. The branchlets in the upper portion of the corallum 

 are from 3 to 5 cm. in length and about 0'3 mm. in thickness. They bear a number of 

 more slender pinnules, mostly sublateral, but a few extend in a plane almost at right 

 angles to the others. They are from 0'5 to 1*5 cm. long, usually simple, and rather 

 irregularly arranged, about two to four to a centimetre. Near the middle of the 

 specimen the branchlets are longer and stronger, and bear a greater number of pinnules, 

 most of which spring from the same side of the branchlet. In one portion, which may 

 be taken as an illustration, twenty-three pinnules occur to 5 cm. They are chiefly 

 lateral in position, and fifteen are arranged on one side and only eight on the other. 

 The eight pinnules on the one side are all simple, and vary from 0"5 to 1*5 cm. in length. 

 Those on the other side are usually longer (1*5 to 2*5 cm.), and bear a secondary and 

 sometimes a tertiary series of pinnules, but two or three remain short and simple. The 

 longer pinnules bear two to seven secondary spreading pinnules, mostly on one side, and 

 directed downwards. Some of the secondary pinnules maybe 1 to l - 5 cm. long, and 



