146 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Branchial sac with 20 or more rows of stigmata with about 25 

 stigmata in a row on each side. 



fetomach narrow and not very conspicuous; its walls not plicated. 

 Intestine forming a rather long loop of large diameter. 



Nearly all the zooids examined, including those from different colo- 

 nies, had the male reproductive organs well developed. They consist 

 of numerous (often 30 to 50) small pear-shaped testes lying beside 

 the posterior part of the intestinal loop and often extending beyond 

 it to the extreme posterior end of the body. They discharge into a 

 stout common sperm duct (which accompanies the intestine) by 

 means of small ducts. The ovary was not satisfactorily made out in 

 any case, unless it is represented by a saclike structure almost empty 

 in most of the zooids studied, situated beside the intestinal loop j ust 

 anterior to the group of testes. This sac appears to extend into a 

 tube, presumably the oviduct, which accompanies the ascending 

 branch of the intestine. 



Many of the zooids possess a small hernialike incubatory pouch 

 containing a few (usually 4 to 6) developing embryos. The pouch 

 is situated at or near where the thorax and the constricted neck 

 attaching the abdomen join, and it contains an enlarged loop of the 

 oviduct within which the embryos remain and undergo part of their 

 development. One or more large tailed larvae are often also present 

 in the atrial cavity of the same zooid. 



The localities of the specimens are : 



No. 104. Station D5139 (off Jolo Light, Feb. 14, 1908, 20 fathoms, coral 

 sand). Four large colonies. (Cat. No. 5092, U.S.N.M.) 



Nos. 28, 52. Station D5145 (near Jolo Light, Feb. 15, 19US, 23 fathoms, coral 

 sand and shells). Four colonies. (Cat. Nos. 5973 and 5915, 

 U.S.N.M., respectively. ) 



No. 50. Station D5149 (off Sirun Island, Archipelago, Feb. 18, 1908, 10 

 fathoms, coral and shells). One small colony. (Cat. No. 5914, 

 U.S.N.M.) 



No. 35. Station D51G5 (off Observation Island, Tawi Tawi Group, Sulu 

 Archipelago, I^eb. 24, 190S, 9 fathoms, coral). One specimen 

 comprising a numher of heads, all small. (Cat. No. 5913, 

 U.S.N.M.) 



No. 79. Some small degenerate fragments from station D5136 (near Jolo 

 Light, Feb. 14, 1908, 22 fathoms, sand and shells) are also prob- 

 ably of this species. (Cat. No. 591G, U.S.N.M.) 



This species was figured by Gould (1856) from a specimen from 

 the " Sooloo Sea." He gave it a generic name (Nephtheis) but no 

 specific name. A closely related species was afterwards described by 

 von Drasche (1882) from the Caroline Islands under the name 

 Oxycorynia fascicularis. The writer follows Hartmeyer (1909) in 

 adopting Gould's generic name. The Challenger Expedition col- 

 lected it in latitude 6° 54' N.; longitude 122° 18' PI, 10 fathoms, 

 and it was described and figured in great detail by Herdman (1886). 



