ALCYONARIAN CORALS 117 



70 mm. in height, and the tubes have a diameter of 

 2-3 mm. 



The only known locahties are Maldive Islands, 23-35 

 fathoms ; Trincomalee, Rutland Island, 35 fathoms ; and 

 Andaman Islands in 45 fathoms. 



Paragorgia. — In the deep waters of the Norwegian 

 fjords there is found a large red branching Alcyonarian, 

 which might be mistaken at first sight for a coarse over- 

 grown precious coral ; but an examination of one of the 

 broken branches shows that it differs from Corallium in 

 having no hard and imperforate axis, the substance of the 

 branch right down to the centre being perforated by 

 numerous canals. 



This is the Paragorgia arhorea or " Sea-cork tree " of 

 the older writers, and it probably received its specific name 

 because in magnitude it is better compared with a tree than 

 with any other kind of vegetable growth. 



It is impossible to say to what size it may attain in 

 these great depths of water, far beyond the range of our 

 vision, as it is so brittle that with the best methods at our 

 disposal great difficulty has been found in bringing safely 

 to the surface complete specimens. But from rough calcula- 

 tions based on a circumference of five or six inches of some 

 of the large stems or branches that have been obtained it 

 is probably no exaggeration to say that the height from the 

 ground of some specimens must be over six feet. 



In general anatomy the Paragorgia has many features 

 in common with Corallium, but it is much more vascular, and 

 the spicules never become so firmly interlocked and fused 

 together as to form a hard stony skeletal structure. 



The substance of a dried specimen is light and porous, 

 and unless it is carefully handled is liable to break up into 

 fragments. 



The species has a remarkable distribution. It is common 

 in the Norwegian fjords and extends North to the seas off 

 Nova Zembla and Franz Josef Land. It has not been 

 found in the British area nor off the Faroes and Iceland, 

 but turns up again in cold deep waters off the western side 

 of the North Atlantic. The most interesting feature of its 



