MUSEUM OF COMPAEATIVE ZOOLOGY. 41 



similar to those of the coenenchyma ;' they are arranged in convergent series 

 along the ribs of the distal portion of the calicles, beyond the constriction. 



Color, in life, pale yellow or buff ; in alcohol, it is white, or yellowish 

 white. 



This species has been obtained in several instances by the Gloucester halibut 

 fishermen in deep water, on the fishing banks, off Nova Sootia, and presented 

 to the U. S. Fish Commission. It was first obtained by Captain N. McPhee 

 and crew of the schooner " Carl Schurz," off Sable Island. 



It was dredged, in 1881, by the U. S. Fish Commission, off Martha's Vine- 

 yard, at Station 1031, in 255 fathoms. It was not dredged by the Blake. 



Anthomastus grandiflorus Verrill. 



Anihomastus grandiflorus Verrill, Amer. Jour. Sci., XVI., 1878, p. 376. 



Plate I. Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 a, 10 b. 



Thirty-three specimens were taken at Station 329, off Beaufort, N. C, in 603 

 fathoms. 



Many of these are very young, and are decidedly unlike the adult in ap- 

 pearance. They have a rather narrow peduncle, expanding upward to the 

 broader, convex or flattened sumnut, where there are only three to five large 

 polyps, arranged remotely around the margin, leaving the central area of the 

 summit covered with numerous small asexual zooids. Some of these yoimg 

 have the peduncle short, but in others it is remarkably elongated (Fig. 8). In 

 all cases it terminates at the base in several, often numerous, lobulate branches, 

 which are more or less subdivided into lobes, irregular in form and size, but 

 mostly having small constricted bases, so that they are easily broken off. In 

 most cases the polyps are still expanded, but in some they are all retracted. 

 The color is dark red. 



The smallest specimen obtained has two well-developed polyps, and two 

 others just budding out. Similar specimens were dredged in large numbers, 

 off Martha's Vineyard, in 1881, in 410 to 458 fathoms. 



The specimens from the fishing banks, off Nova Scotia, both large and small, 

 are mostly attached to stones by a broad incrusting base. In the larger speci- 

 mens the peduncle becomes short, and the upper or polypiferous part large, 

 round and convex, or capitate, often several inches in diameter and height, 

 with twenty or more polyps scattered over the surface, but with a more or less 

 marked tendency to form one or more rows around the border and to leave 

 the central area comparatively bare. The surface of the ccEnenchyma is finely 

 granulous, with a great abundance of small red spicula, which make the tex- 

 ture firm and somewhat rigid. The polyps are very large, with long tentacles, 

 but they are capable of entire retraction, though often exsert in alcoholic 

 specimens. When the polyps are entirely retracted there are no prominent 

 calicles, although the parts around the eight-rayed apertures are often swollen. 



