VERETILLIDAE 251 



Actinoptiliim molle Kiikenthal igio 



Cavernularia ohesa + C. elegans Hickson 1900, Part I, p. 89, PI. 3, A, B. 



Actinoptilun molle Kiikenthal 1910, p. 51. 



Actinoptiliim molle Kiikenthal & Broch 191 1, p. 201, PL 13, figs. 3, 4; PI. 18, fig. 37. 



A. molle Kiikenthal 1915, p. 20, fig. 22. 



A. molle J. Stuart Thomson 1915, p. 3, PI. i, figs. 3, 4. 



A. molle Hickson 1916, p. 41. 



A. molle J. Stuart Thomson 1923, p. 81. 



St. 91. False Bay, South Africa, 35 m. 4 specimens (identified by Mrs MacFadyen). 



In a note Mrs MacFadyen writes: 'The largest 20-5 cm. in length of which 6-5 cm. consist of the 

 rachis. In our specimens the colour of the stalk is pale yellow, of the rachis very pale pink, the polyp- 

 tentacles are pale yellow, the polyp anthocodiae with deep red spicules. The vertical lines in the rachis 

 as figured by Kiikenthal and Broch are clearly seen.' 



In the British Museum 5 additional specimens were examined: (i) 'South Africa', J. Stuart 

 Thomson (S. J. Hickson coll.); (2) Gilchrist coll., St. 145, 29° 40' 30" S, 31° 20' 00" E, 42 fm. 

 12 July 1920; (3) Gilchrist coll., St. 188, 29° 36' 30" S, 31° 16' 30" E, 33 fm. 12 August 1920 (2 speci- 

 mens); (4) Gilchrist coll., St. 453, 33° 34' 30" S, 27° 09' 05" E, 40 fm. i September 1920. 



Stuart Thomson (1915) pointed out that Actinoptiliim molle 'is probably the most common Pen- 

 natulid in South African Seas'. Later on he (1923) emphasized 'that it occurs in the colder water of 

 Table Bay as well as in the warmer of Algoa Bay and False Bay '. The depth of the habitat ranges from 

 35 m. (Discovery St. 91) and down to 183 m. ('Pieter Faure' 1902). 



The remarkably restricted habitat of A. molle (text-fig. i) is rather astonishing, especially when we 

 consider Stuart Thomson's words which indicate considerable tolerance to changes in temperature; 

 one might therefore expect the species to penetrate farther northwards from Table Bay along the 

 western coast of South Africa, although east of False Bay and as far as the east coast of Natal it is 

 found living in warmer water. A limiting factor must exist, but with the data available it cannot be 

 determined at present. The species may be found to disappear where the cold Benguela Current 



impinges on the coast. 



RENILLIDAE 



Renilla miilleri Kolliker 1872 



(A complete synonymy of this American species was given by E. Deichmann 1936.) 



St. W.S. 742. Off the southern coast of Chile, 38° 22' S, 73° 41' W, 58-47 m. 5 specimens. 



The specimens are large and of a light violet colour. Deichmann writes that the species is distri- 

 buted over ' Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil— coast of Chile, west coast of Central America '. It 

 seems unknown, whether the distribution along the South American coast is continuous, or if a gap 

 exists southwards from Brazil along the Patagonian coast round the southern Chilean coast to the 

 locality at which the species was taken by 'William Scoresby'. 



UMBELLULIDAE 

 Revision of the genus Umbellula 

 In a recent paper (1957) I have given some comments on the taxonomy of Umbellula, beginning with 

 the remark that 'certainly too many species have been described within this genus'. Both Kiikenthal 

 and Broch (191 1), Kiikenthal (1915) and Hickson (1916) gave extensive reviews of the genus, but a 

 thorough critical revision of the species is needed and can to a large extent only be achieved by exami- 

 nation of the type specimens kept in museums all over the world. 



