84 



the junction of the three legs, a type of spindle which may be called golf-club- 

 shaped, and a form which may be called a spine with spinules — the latter 

 measuring on an average 0"09 mm. in length. The spindles are shorter and 

 thicker than those of the stem, varying from 054 to I'S mm. in length, and 

 from 0-04 to 0-18 mm. in breadth. Clubs are 0-48 mm. long by OlS mm. broad. 

 The spindles have prominent simi)le spines regularly arranged, but on the others 

 the spines are large, very pointed and usually branched, especially on the 

 clubs, tripods and curved spindles, the prominent spines being on the convex 

 surface of the latter. 



Canal-wall spicules : {<() In the stem there are long, thick spindles, in 

 many cases showing bifurcation at one end, large three-i^ayed forms, and a 

 number of smaller spindles either straight or curved. All these have simple 

 spines distrilnited fairly regularly over the surface. 



{/>) The stalk has spindles, clubs, three- and four-rayed forms, and these 

 resemble the spicules of the stalk cortex except that they are smaller and have 

 simpler spines. 



Colour — Stalk yellowish-white ; stem, principal branches and twigs pale 

 orange-yellow ; polyp-stalks pink ; polyps white. 



Locality : Andamans. 



Dendronephthya brevirama, Burchardt, var. andamanensis, Henderson. 



This species is represented by a single specimen which measures 37 cm. in 

 height and 44 cm. in greatest width. 



The stalk is very short, about 1 cm. in length, slender and rigid. Its outer 

 surface is granular, and from the base a number of stolons are given off. 



The polyparium is oval in shape with the long axis at right angles to the 

 axis of the stalk, very compact, with an even, unbroken surface. It is greatly 

 flattened in one plane, the two main branches arising in this plane on opposite 

 sides of the stem. The two large lateral branches and the upper portion 

 of the stem are identical in structure, short, thick and cylindrical, and give off' 

 numerous short, cylindrical branches on all sides. These branches give rise by 

 repeated division to the polyp-bearing twigs. The two lowest branches are 

 flattened in the lower part, and from the upper surface of the flattened portion 

 small secondary rounded branches are given off. 



The polyps are arranged in groups of four to fifteen and stand in close 

 contact ; they may occur singly on the edge of the flattened branches. All 

 are so arranged that they I'each the surface of the ])olyparium. They are low and 

 round in shape, measuring 0-48 mm. in height and 050 mm. in breadth, and are 

 placed at an obtuse angle on the short stalks which may reach a length of about 

 1 mm. The spicules are arranged in eight double rows, in each of which there 



