54 BULLETIN OF THE 



parchment-like character of the integument, below the well-defined submar- 

 ginal zone. It is highly contractile. The tentacles are often carried erect and 

 divergent, but the outer ones are often gracefully recurved ; they are submar- 

 ginal, in four or five rows. Adult specimens are often 80 to 90 mm. in diam- 

 eter of body, and 100 to 125 mm. high, exclusive of the tentacles, which may 

 be 45 to 65 mm. long ; the breadth across the expanded tentacles may be 150 

 to 200 mm. (6 to 8 inches). The disk can expand very broadly. 



Large specimens have vertical rows of persistent, but small and not very 

 prominent verruca;, below the submarginal zone, fading out toward the base. 

 In some examples these verrucse become more numerous, and more or less 

 crowded along the rows, but they are never very large. The submarginal zone 

 is soft and lubricous, and probably phosphorescent, though this was not deter- 

 mined by us. It is covered by longitudinal ridges and crests, alternately 

 larger and smaller, and usually with darker and lighter stripes of orange- 

 brown, or purplish brown color. The column below this is whitish or pale 

 pink. 



The long, tapering, acute tentacles are translucent, usually delicate pink or 

 rose-color, and sometimes light purplish brown, usually with an ill-defined 

 whitish ring at the base, and pale tips. The disk is usually whitish or pale 

 rosy pink, and has broad radii of deep rose-red, or sometimes dark purplish 

 brown, running from near the mouth to and between the bases of the tentacles, 

 four of them usually passing between each pair of inner tentacles. Lips 

 orangp-brown or reddish, with deeper brown stripes on the large lateral folds ; 

 the large gonidial grooves are paler. 



The basal disk of the large specimens is almost always deeply concave, or 

 bulbous, clasping and almost entirely enclosing a large mass of sand, etc. 

 Young specimens are often attached by the clasping base to worm-tubes, and 

 stems of Tubularia indivisa, etc. In these cases the edges of the disk wrap 

 around and unite in a fine close suture on the opposite side of the support, 

 thus forming a closed sheath, which may extend for some distance along the 

 enclosed object, and when there are several specimens near together the edges 

 of their bases may also unite continuously by similar sutures. 



A strongly contracted specimen, of moderate size, apparently of this species, 

 was taken by the Blake at Station 327, in 178 fathoms, off Beaufort, N. C, 

 N. Lat. 34° 0' 30", W. Long. 76° 10' 30". The upper part of this is densely 

 covered with small prominent verruca; ; the lower part, with small scattered 

 warts ; the integument is firm and :,omewhat leathery, or parchment-like, but 

 very flexible and not very thick. 



It has been taken by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawk, in 

 1880, 1881, and 1882, at many stations off Martha's Vineyard, in 100 to 325 

 fathoms. Many young ones were also taken oft" Delaware Bay, in 130 fathoms, 

 adhering to hydroids, worm-tubes, sponges, etc., and often united by their 

 bases into curious clusters. 



