632 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 14 



and San Miguel Islands and various other places off shore along southern 

 California, 15 to 76 fms. Also collected in Puget Sound, Washington, 

 by Dr. J. L. Mohr, and two colonies from Cleveland Passage, Frederick 

 Sound, southern Alaska. 



Plagioecia sarniensis (Norman), 1864 

 Plate 73, fig. 3 



Diastopora Sarniensis Norman, 1864:89. 

 Diastopora sarniensis, Hincks, 1880:463; 1884:206. 

 Berenicea sarniensis, Harmer, 1915:114. 

 Microecia sarniensis, O'Donoghue, 1926:21. 

 Plagioecia sarniensis, O'Donoghue, 1926:22. 



The zoarium is usually encrusting but sometimes the borders are free 

 and slightly contorted ; the basal lamina forms a distinct border. There 

 is much resemblance to P. patina in the zoarial form, but the smaller 

 size of the zooecia and the form of the ovicell easily distinguish them. 



The zooecia are embedded for most of their length. The semierect 

 "peristomes" become suddenly smaller, their diameters only 0.09 mm 

 and their apertures 0.07 mm in diameter. The peristomes are usually 

 longer than those of patina, never connate and not in series. 



The ovicell varies in form from irregularly rounded to short trans- 

 verse, occasionally somewhat bilobate, and often one or two peristomes 

 are surrounded. The ooeciostome is terminal or sub-terminal at the 

 distal border, isolated, erect or curved proximally, the ooeciopore round 

 and 0.05 mm in diameter. 



Norman and Hincks both figured a small oval or rounded ovicell, 

 though the latter states (1880:463) "Ooecia transversely elongate, 

 subelliptical inflations of the zoarium, of a considerable size." Doubt- 

 less it was the small size of the ovicell figured that led Canu ( 1918 :326) 

 to select this species as the genotype of his new genus Microecia, which 

 he placed in his new family Mecynoeciidae, now discarded. If there is 

 such a fossil group of species of generic value, the selection of sarniensis 

 as the genotype was most unfortunate and the generic name Microecia 

 is invalidated, for sarniensis is certainly congeneric with patina. While 

 the ooecial characters are of the greatest importance in the study of the 

 cyclostomatous species, it is necessary to recognize the fact that these 

 characters, like all others in nature, are subject to variation, and this is 

 especially true of the size and form of the ooecial expansion. I have seen 

 several cases of simple ooecia on the same zoaria with those of larger 



