obtained from great depths in the Antarctic Ocean. 20 1 



and he properly added to it the G. verticillaris ; he describes 

 also a third species under the name of P. flabellum, but I am 

 not quite satisfied that this species is established. The loca- 

 lity given for P. verticillaris by Ellis and Solander, and by 

 Marsigili, is the Mediterranean. I have good specimens of 

 this species from the West Indies, where they were collected 

 by the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding. I have met with no 

 statement of the depth at which it grows, but have reason 

 to believe that Mr Guilding did not use means to obtain his 

 specimens (of which I have many) at great depths, and Ellis 

 and Solander would certainly have told us if they had known 

 of their occurrence at a great depth. 



** Primnoa lepadifera is found, I believe, only on the coast 

 of Norway. I have specimens nearly two feet in height, 

 which were presented to me by Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke, 

 Bart., who collected them there in 1820. He received ac- 

 counts of their growing to a much larger size. They are 

 found at great depths, varying from 150 to 300 fathoms. 

 At these depths they gi^ow in company with a large branch- 

 ing Alcyonium of a red colour {A. arboreuni)^ and it is in fish- 

 ing with lines for the red fish that the specimens are ob- 

 tained. This fish frequents the places where these corals 

 grow, and the lines getting entangled with the branches of 

 the corals frequently bring up specimens of them, and some- 

 times the size and strength of the corals is such as to break 

 the lines. 



" The drawings represent four species, — Primnoa Bossii, 

 fig. 1, of natural size ; fig. 2, portion magnified ; 3, 4, polype 

 cells more magnified ; 5, 6, 7, polype cell of P. lepadifera. 



" The polype cells of Primnoa are membranaceous and 

 covered with calcareous scales, the forms of which are accu- 

 rately represented in the drawings, and are useful in forming 

 specific characters, as they differ in form and number in each 

 species. These scales do not cover the whole surface of the 

 cells ; on the inner side, next to the stem there is a part devoid 

 of scales, as if, being less exposed, their protection was not 

 needed. This is shewn in the figures of both species. The 

 substance of the cells being membranaceous, they are movable 

 in all directions, as is shewn by the different positions in 



