14 BULLETIN 104, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



ASTRORmZA VERMIFOUMIS Goes. 



Plate 5. figf^. l-o; plate 6. lig. G. 



Astrorhiza vermiformis Goes, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 29, 1896. p. 20, pi. 1, 

 fig. 9.— Rhumbler. Arch. Prot., vol. 3, 1903, p. 218, fig. 40 (in text>. 



Description. — Test tubular, usually bent, wall thick, made up of 

 dark grayish mud, before drying more or less flexible; the dried 

 specimens with numerous fine crevices in the wall, usually annular 

 or partially so, apertures at the ends of the tube, which is some- 

 what tapering, consisting of an unrestricted circular or compressed 

 opening. 



Length, 10-13 mm. 



Distrihution. — Type-specimens from Albatross station D2384, Gulf 

 of Mexico, 28° 45' N., 88° 15' W., about 58 miles south-southeast 

 from the middle mouth of the Mississippi, in 940 fathoms. I have 

 liad material from this station and also from the neighboring one — 

 1)2385, Gulf of Mexico, 28° 51' N., 88° 18' W., in 730 fathoms. 



Astrorhiza vermiformis — material examined. 



Genus KHABDAMMINA Carpenter, 1869. 



Rhabdaminina M. Sars, Forh. Selsk. Christiania, 1868, p. 248 {nonmi nudum).— 

 W. B. Carpenter (type. R. abyssorum W. B. Carpenter), Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Hist., ser. 4, vol. 4, 1869, p. 288; Proc. Roy. Soc. London, vol. 18, 1869, 

 p. 60.— H. B. Brady, Rep. Voy. Challenger, Zoology, vol. 9, 1884, p. 266.— 

 Rhumbler, Arch. Prot., vol. 3, 1903. p. 261.— Cushman. Pull. 71, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., pt. 1, 1910, p. 23. 



Astrorhiza (part)+Rhizammma (part) Eimer and Fkkert. Zeiteclir. ^^.i88. Zool., 

 vol. 65, 1899, p. 666. 



Description. — Test free, either radiate, subcylmdrical or branching, 

 wall arenaceous usually rather coarsely finished on the exterior, 

 (iimly cemented; open ends of the arms serving as apertures. 



From the records this genus seems to be characteristic of cool 

 waters and of deep-sea conditions. The arms are easily broken and 

 specimens are usually incomplete. The species all have a wide 

 distribution. 



