184 Z. ASTEROIDA. Gorgonia. 



" This Sea- Fan is of a reddish brown colour ;" " has its branches 

 disposed in a dichotomons order and a flattish form ; they bend irre- 

 gularly towards one another, but rarely unite. Their mouths are co- 

 nical, project, and are surrounded at top by little spines. The bone 

 or support is nearly of the substance of wood." Ellis. 



3. G. ANCEPS, branched, suhdichotomous ; branches with the 

 jieshfiat on each side, with a row of little mouths along both the 

 margins. Mr Dale. * 



Plate XXV. Fig. 3. 

 Keratophyton dichotomum ; caule et ramulis leviter compressis, Rail, Syn. 



.32 Sea Willow, Ellis, Corall. 68. no. 2, tab. 27, fig. g Gorgonia 



anceps, Pall. Elench. 183. Ellis and Soland. Zooph. 89. Berk. Syn. 



i. 212. Lin. Syst. 1292. Turt. Br. Faun. 206. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. 



ii. 317. 2de edit. ii. 494. Lamour. Cor. Flex. p. 395. Turt. Gmel. iv. 



649. Bosc, Vers, iii. 37. Lamarck in Mem. du Mus. ii. 84. Corall. 



200. Stew. Elem. ii. p. 430. Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 512. La Gorgone 



gladiee, Blainv. Actinol. 505. 



Hab. Deep water, very rare. Found by Mr Dale growing near 



Margate, Dillenius. Now and then found on the coast of Great 



Britain and Ireland ; but not frequently, Ellis. 



" This Gorgon is branched nearly in a subdivided manner." " The 

 bone is roundish, and small at the ends, of a horny nature, inclining 

 to leather." Specimens recent from the sea " are of a fine violet co- 

 lour ; but when we receive them, some are yellow, others white." 

 Ellis. The claims of this species to be considered a British native 

 are doubtful. 



The following species, referable to this family, have been indicat- 

 ed as British, but neither figures nor descriptions of any of them, de- 

 rived from native specimens, have been as yet published : 



Gorgonia Flabellum, ^^ grows inform of a net, with its 

 branches compressed inwardly : the flesh is yellow, sometimes pur- 



• " Samuel Dale, Medicus et Pharmacopoeus vicinus et familiaris noster, 

 Bantriae in Essexia degens," one of the four botanists to whom Ray acknowledges 

 his greatest obligations in the compilation of his " Historia Plantarum." Praf. 

 1686 — He died in 1739, at. 80. Petiver aflfectionately styles him " my very 

 kind friend," and " our curious brother." — In the latter peiiod of his life he set- 

 tled as a physician at Bocking. He is the author of a " Pharmacologia," and 

 of a History of Harwich, — both works of merit, and once of repute. See Pul- 

 teney's Sketches, Vol. ii. p. 122-8- Pulteney says he was a F. R. S., but I do 

 not find his name in the list of Fellows given by Dr Thomson. 



