250 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



in which the species differs from C. obesa (also without an axis) which has larger and more numerous 



spicules inside the stalk. 



' The colour of the colony is creamy with a dark brownish ring on the polyp just below where the 

 tentacles arise.' 



The species has been recorded both from the Indian Ocean and Japan, but Kukenthal (1915) 

 queried these localities. Evidently these records need confirmation. The habitat of C. elegans almost 

 coincides with that of Veretillum cynomormm (text-fig. i), but exact positions along the West African 

 coast are remarkably scanty, although the species is said to be a shallow-water form. Cavernularia 

 madeirensis Studer 1878 is certainly a synonym, and the Mediterranean C. pusilla (Philippi 1835) also 

 is based on a small specimen of C. elegans. Consideration of Kiikenthal's (191 5) definitions does not 

 reveal any distinguishing characters of importance between all these three species. 



It is correct to say that the Discovery specimen represents the first exact location of the species on 

 the West African coast, all earlier statements being given in general terms. Studer (1878) was a little 

 more precise in describing C. madeirensis from 90 m. depth on the west coast of Madeira, and Roule 

 (1905) recorded the same species from the Atlantic Ocean near Morocco in 99 m. Kukenthal and 

 Broch (191 1) reported that C. pusilla was found at Palermo and Sicily, and KoUiker (1872) also 

 queried a record from the Adriatic. 



Veretillum cynomorium (Pallas 1766) 



(Synonymy before 1910, see Kukenthal and Broch 191 1.) 



V. cynomorium Kukenthal 1915, p. 12, figs. 12, 13. 



V. cynomorimn Stuart Thomson 1923, p. 59. 



V. cynomorium J. A. Thomson 1927, p. 63. 



V. cynomorium J. A. Thomson 1929, p. 10. 



V. cynomorium Nobre 1931, p. 34. 



V. cynomorium Broch 1953, p. 10. 



V. cynomorium Pax & Miiller 1954. 



V. cynomorium Pax & Miiller 1955, p. 90. 



St. 272. OflF Elephant Bay, Angola, W. Africa, 43-91 m. 2 specimens (identified by Mrs MacFadyen). 



In a note Mrs MacFadyen writes: 'The larger has a total height of 8-5 cm. and a stalk of 1-7 cm. 

 They are both quite typical specimens of this radially symmetrical Pennatulid. The colour is pale 

 cream.' 



Pax and Miiller (1954) have recently given a review of the distribution of V. cynomorium, a species 

 characteristic of the tropical and temperate eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (text-fig. i). The 

 northern limit of its habitat is evidently the Bay of Biscay, and its southern border lies somewhere 

 south of the great Bay of Whales, South Africa, where Kukenthal and Broch (191 1) reported its 

 occurrence. According to Stuart Thomson (1923) the species has not been found on the South 

 African coast south and east of Saldanha Bay. Probably the colder currents check its advance just 

 south of the Bay of Whales. 



The species is limited to the shallower shelf- waters above some 100 m. If the identification of the 

 specimen from 540 m. depth near the Canaries (28° 47' N, 13° 44' 45" W, J. A. Thomson 1927) is 

 proved to be correct, this occurrence probably depends on an erratic specimen which has managed to 

 grow up and continue to live, in spite of having sunk to the bottom far below its normal habitat. 

 Similar cases have been observed in other benthic animals; it is necessary to regard them with 

 caution and not immediately to deduce an extended normal habitat from these probably sporadic 

 occurrences. 



