Boone, Coelenterata, Cruises of "Eagle" and " Ara," 1921-28 51 



Order: PSEUDAXONIA. 

 Family: CORALLIIDAE. 



Genus : CORALLIUM Gray. 

 Corallium vanderbilti, new species. 



Plates 12, 13 and 14. 



Type: One four-branched colony, dredged near Casilda, south 

 coast of Cuba, in over 100 fms. of water, by the "Ara," February 15, 

 1924. 



Distribution: Known only from the type locality. 



Color: After eight years' preservation in spirit the specimen re- 

 mains a vivid spectrum red with bright yellow suboval spots around 

 and including the calicles. 



Technical, description: Colony four-branched, of the shape fig- 

 ured, measures 87 mm. high. The base is in the form of a hollow disc, 

 17 mm. long diameter; the trunk of the larger branch is 5 mm. 

 diameter just above the base. The branches are tortuous and show no 

 indication of lateral compression and diminish gradually in thickness 

 towards their tips. The shortest branch arising from the basal disc 

 has a young branch budding out from its side near the tip. This 

 younger portion is crystalline with a few red spicules formed inside 

 the crystalline substance and shining through it like a fine network. 

 The minute calicles are present represented as small projections on 

 the surface with minute apertures and outlined by the above men- 

 tioned network of red spicules. The total length of this young crys- 

 talline branch is about 3.7 mm. 



The axis of the red branch is hard, solid, almost cylindrical in cross- 

 section of the wider branches, oval in cross-section near the tips; 

 composed of closely fused, spindle-shaped spicules set at various longi- 

 tudinal and oblique positions. The red surface is smooth, glistening, 

 to the naked eye, but under high magnification it shows very fine 

 indefinite markings. The coenchyma is thin, bright red, full of closely 

 crowded small spicules, having the appearance of glistening sand 

 grains. 



The verrucae are bright chrome yellow, of the same glistening 

 appearance as the adjacent crimson surface, and present a striking 

 contrast to it. They are prominent, nearly cylindrical, about 1 to 

 1.5 mm. high (preserved specimen), with the summit rounded and 

 divided by eight convergent segments. When the tentacles are 



