HYDROCORALS OF THE NORTH PACIFIC — FISHER 523 



tion, as they may be slightly eximnded at the outer or dactylopore 

 end, as in verrilli (pi. 53, fig. 2). Dactj^lostyle fairly conspicuous and 

 extending well above mouth of slit as seen from inside of gastropore 

 (pi. 53, fig. 26). The gastropore is cyhndrical or slightly constricted 

 at about midheight of style. It is not so wide at gastrostome as in 

 A. verrilli; hence is not at all funnel shaped but may be even a trifle 

 narrower at mouth than midway to bottom. The style chamber 

 exists only as a slight expansion at bottom and is not differentiated 

 from the part above by special spicules. Ordinarily the gastrostyle 

 is robust about twice as high as broad, broadly lanceolate in profile 

 with an acute tapered end; length 0.5 to 0.6 mm in largest cyclo- 

 systems. Owing to the oblique direction of gastropore into coenos- 

 teum or to its occasional shglit curvature the style may be invisible 

 when colony is held horizontally. 



Diameter of cyclosystem of type material 0.8 to 1.3 mm (Broch). 

 In the Albatross specimens the diameter of the largest cyclosystems 

 with 7 or 8 dactylopores is 0.8 to 0.85 mm; depth of larger gastropores 

 1.2 mm. 



Puzzling variation is furnished also by four sm.all fragments in which 

 the cyclosystem structure is closely similar to that of other specimens, 

 but the gastrostyle is much slenderer (pi. 53, fig. 2a). These specimens 

 have been compared with the cotype of A. solida and are definitely not 

 that species. The very shallow dactylo tomes of solida are characteris- 

 tic. In two sectioned cyclosystems of one of Dr. Broch's white colonies 

 I find gastrostyles slenderer than fig. 26, and therefore much slenderer 

 than Dr. Broch's fig-s. 156, c (1936, p. 53). 



There are rather numerous instances of one or two dactylopores 

 forming part of a cyclosystem but Vi itliout a dactylo tome connection to 

 gastropore (Broch, 1936, p. 53, fig. 15(i). 



The ampullae are sunk beneath the surface and are of 2 sizes. 

 The smaller (pi. 53, fig. 26) have a subspherical cavity, 0.4 to 0.5 mm 

 in diameter, while the larger are 0.65 to 0.85 mm broad and 0.4 to 0.5 

 nmi high. In these I found one or two structures (desiccated for over 

 30 years) which may represent planulae. On softening, clear spots 

 resembling nematocysts were plainly visible. 



Coenosteum hard, rather lustrous, mmutely reticulated and rough- 

 ened, the reticulations representing hollows or fine grooves separating 

 microscopic irregular ridges which reflect light. On the rim of the 

 cyclosystems the texture is a little coarser and the coenosteum irregu- 

 larly perforated or fenestrated, while the wall of gastropore is per- 

 forated and roughened by irregular convexities. 



Color of dried colony, pale warm pink to salmon red (grenadine pink 

 to dull flame scarlet of Ridgway's nomenclature). Dr. Broch records 

 two white colonies, one of which I have seen. 



Type locality.— Okhotsk Sea, lat. 56°10' N., long. 143°15' E., 182 

 meters, bottom temperature 0.51° C. 



