140 CORALS 



Antipathes spiralis of the older authors is characterised 

 by the single unbranched stem, which is twisted in a spiral 

 fashion. 



This is the Palmijuncus anguiniis of Rumphius, and 

 seems to have, like many other Antipatharia, a world-wide 

 distribution. It might be mistaken for the stripped axis of 

 one of the Juncellidae (see p. 128), but differs from it in the 

 presence of prickles on the surface and by the absence of any 

 calcareous matter in its composition. 



Unbranched spiral specimens of Antipathes are now 

 relegated to two different genera, Cirripathes and Sticho- 

 pathes, which differ from one another in the arrangement of 

 the polyps In the former they are situated in several rows 

 on the stem, in the latter in a single row. 



Rumphius states that specimens over five feet in length 

 were obtained in the Amboyna vSea, but specimens of 

 Stichopathes spiralis taken in deep water in the Bav of 

 Biscay and of Cirripathes spiralis taken off the west coast of 

 Ireland are not more than one foot in length. 



In the third form of growth, which may be described 

 under the name Antipathes flahellmn (Fig. 65), there is a 

 short thick stem attached to a rock. This stem breaks up 

 immediately into a profusion of small branches arranged in 

 one plane, which divide and subdivide and anastomose to 

 form a fan-shaped structure. In old times these corals 

 were called " mourning fans " (Trauerfacher) to distinguish 

 them from the Gorgonacean sea-fans. 



In the modern system of nomenclature the fan-shaped 

 Antipatharia are relegated to two or more genera (Aphani- 

 pathes, Tylopathes). 



There are several other genera with a more irregular 

 method of branching, but they are difficult to distinguish 

 from one another without special study of the polyps and 

 the arrangement of the prickles on the terminal branches. 

 For the identification of these the recent memoirs on the 

 group should be consulted. 



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