AETEA 47 i 



This Antarctic species is only known from scanty fragments. It agrees with Erymo- 

 phora gracilis in its zoarial characters, having zooecia of similar shape and the same 

 curious longitudinal connexion between the lateral branch and the proximal zooecium. 

 It has a wider cryptocyst and, instead of the series of marginal spines, it has at most 

 four short distal spines. Ovicells and avicularia are unknown. The Discovery material 

 consists of a few dead zooecia, found imbedded in a sponge, and does not show any of 

 the curious tubular connexions. 



Kluge showed that Waters confused two species in Brettia longa, one of which may 

 be the species here called Erymophora klugei. He restricted Waters 's name to the other 

 species, discussed above under Notoplites tenuis var. uniserialis (p. 352). 



Aetea Lamouroux, 18 12 

 1. Aetea anguina (Linnaeus). Fig. 57 A-C. 

 Sertularia anguina Linnaeus, 1758, p. 816. 



Aetea anguina Busk, 1884, p. 2; Marcus, 1921a, text-fig. 15; Harmer, 1926, p. 194, pi. xiii, 

 % s - 3» 4 (synonymy); Hastings, 1932, p. 408; Hasenbank, 1932, p. 324; Osburn, 1933, p. 306, 

 pi. xv, fig. 12; Marcus, 1937, p. 26, pi. v, fig. 8; Livingstone, 1937, p. 377; Marcus, 19386, 

 p. 199; Neviani, 1939, p. 14. 



Station distribution. Sub- Antarctic: South Atlantic Ocean, Sts. 4, 399, 1187, 1902, WS 84, 

 WS 847. Victoria: St. 1686. 



Geographical distribution. Throughout tropical and temperate regions including: Chile (Busk); 

 Brazil ; Juan Fernandez (Marcus) ; Tristan da Cunha (Busk ; Discovery) ; Gough Island ; Patagonian 

 Shelf (Discovery); South Africa (Hasenbank). 



Busk (18526, p. 31) recorded this species from the "Antarctic Ocean", but there is 

 no trace of any specimen on which he might have based his statement, nor any authority 

 for it in the earlier writings that he lists. The ' Discovery ' did not find the genus farther 

 south than the Falkland Islands. Waters (1904, p. 20) recorded three or four zooecia of 

 an unnamed Aetea, resembling A. recta, from " Tangles VIII ' n in 70 S, but the other 

 Antarctic expeditions whose reports have been published did not find the genus at any 

 Antarctic station. I therefore regard the existence of Aetea in the Antarctic as still some- 

 what dubious. Marcus (19386) came to a similar conclusion. 



The material from St. 1902 (Patagonian coast) comprises small colonies on a hydroid 

 and on seaweed. Those on the weed have a shorter, broader opesia with its proximal 

 edge tending to turn outwards, but both forms fall within the range of A. anguina as 

 generally understood. The erect part of the zooecia of both is curved. 



In some of the specimens from Tristan, notably those from St. 1187, 18 November 

 1933, a membranous sac is frequently to be seen placed symmetrically on the frontal 

 membrane, proximally to the operculum, and containing an embryo (Fig. 57 A). No 

 opening to the sac could be detected. The frontal membrane is strongly depressed in 

 these preserved specimens, and, where the embryo is small, the whole sac lies in the 

 hollow so formed without projecting beyond the borders of the opesia as seen in 

 profile. At this stage the sac is so closely applied to the membrane that its basal wall 



1 He gives the number 986 which does not appear in his lists on pp. 3 and 15. 



