Fakquhar. — On New Gymnoblastic Hydroids. 209 



Tubiclava rubra, n. sp. Plate XIII., fig. 6. 



Hydrocaulus slender, lax, sparingly branched, attaining a 

 height of about 12mm., aiising from a creeping filiform 

 stolon.- Hydranths fusiform, very contractile, deep vermilion. 

 Tentacles somewhat scattered, forming three irregular 

 verticils, the lower ones rather smaller than the others, 

 pellucid - white, contractile. Perisarc smooth or slightly 

 annulated below, colourless and transparent, usually invested 

 by minute plants and animals. The coenosarc in the stems 

 and stolon is of a light-reddish colour. Gonophores sessile, 

 red, developed on separate stems, three or four on the summit 

 of a stem. 



Hab. Wellington Harbour. Abundant on the roots and 

 stems of Macrocystis pyrifera. Type specimens in the Canter- 

 bury Museum, Christchurch. 



Very few New Zealand gymnoblastic hydroids have been 

 described. I know of only three other species — viz., Tubularia 

 attenoides, Coughtrey (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. viii., p. 302, 

 1875), from Dunedin ; Eudendrium novce-zelandm, Mark- 

 tanner-Turneretscher (Annal. d. k.-k. Naturhist. Hofmuseums, 

 band v., p. 201, 1890), from Auckland ; and a species of the 

 freshwater genus Cordylophora found by Mr. A. Hamilton in 

 the Esk Biver, near Napier (N.Z. Journal of Science, vol. i., 

 p. 419, 1883), which Mr. Hamilton doubtfully identified as the 

 European form C. lacustris, quoting Professor Allman's descrip- 

 tion of the genus. It is more likely to be identical with the 

 Australian species, C. whiteleggii, v. Lendenfeld (Zool. Jahr- 

 biicher, bd. ii., p. 97, 1886). When rediscovered, however, it 

 will probably prove to be distinct from both the European and 

 Australian forms. 



The fact that so few species have been recorded does not 

 by any means indicate that our hydroid fauna is poor and 

 deficient in this group, but only that they have been neglected 

 by New Zealand naturalists. Mr. H. B. Kirk informs me that 

 he has found a species at Kau Bay, on the south side of the 

 Wellington Harbour, perhaps the Coryne described above. I 

 have myself collected specimens of a very beautiful Tubularia 

 on the roots of Lessonia, at Ohiro Bay, near Wellington, which 

 I believe is distinct from Dr. Coughtrey's species, and I have 

 seen the polypidoms of several other species. No doubt a 

 careful and systematic search would reveal many new and 

 interesting forms. 



14 



