MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 39 



mit conical in contraction, consisting of eight clusters of acute, convergent 

 spicula, corresponding to the bases of the tentacles and surrounded by a circle 

 of slender curved spicula, j ust within the margin. The spicula forming the 

 sides of the calicles are mostly fusiform and very roughly warted; those at the 

 margin project but little. 



Height of a moderate-sized specimen, 160 mm.; breadth, 150 mm.; diam- 

 eter of the stem near the base, 3 mm. ; of the branchlets, without the calicles, 

 .75 mm.; diameter of the calicles, .6 mm.; height, about .5 mm. 



Taken at Station 272, in 76 fathoms, off Barbados, by the Blake, in 

 1878-79, and at several other localities in the same region. 



This species is allied to P. borealis, but is more slender, and has smaller 

 spicula, which are different in form, and the sui'face of the ccenenchyma is 

 spinulose. 



Family PLEXAUEID^. 

 Eunicella modesta Vekrill, sp. nov. 



Plate II. Fig. 3. 



Coral small, sparingly branched, nearly in a single plane, with large, low, 

 round-topped, verruciform calicles. Base expanded, adhering to shells, etc. 

 The main stem sends off a few branches, of about its own size; these spread 

 abruptly at base, and then bend upward in a broad curve; they give off a few 

 rather long, ascending branchlets, mostly from the outer curvature (in larger 

 specimens these would probably divide farther in a similar way). The axis is 

 round, horny, dark chestnut-brown in the larger branches, soft and yellow in 

 the smaller ones. The calicles are rather large, low, rounded verrucse, form- 

 ing a close double row along each margin of the branches; they are mostly in 

 contact, or nearly so, at their bases, in the rows, but leave a narrow, irregular, 

 barren zone along the middle of the sides ; the tentacles are entirely retracted 

 and the aperture is usually completely closed up, so that the summit of the 

 calicle is evenly rounded, or shows only a slight pit in the centre ; sometimes 

 it shows eight faint grooves and lidges. The entire surface is covered with 

 the exposed, smooth, rounded, outer ends of the club-shaped spicula, forming 

 the outer layer; these give- the surface an evenly, regularly, and finely granu- 

 lated appearance, under a lens. The color is white in alcohol. 



The largest specimen is 120 mm. high and 65 mm. broad; diameter of the 

 branches, 2.5 to 3 mm. 



The club-shaped spicula (Fig. 3, a) of the ccenenchyma are remarkable for the 

 smoothness and evenlv rounded form of the larger end : at the smaller end 

 there is usually a single group of small warts; sometimes there is another 

 whorl a little higher up. These clubs mostly measure from .13 to .16 mm. in 

 length, and .03 to .05 mm. in greatest breadth. There are also some double- 

 headed warty spicules (Fig. 3, c), about .15 by .07 mm. ; a few compound 

 double-spindles, about .25 by .03 nmi. ; and some simple, warty, fusiform 



