87 



Colour — Stalk light coral-red ; stem, branches and twigs light mauve ; 

 polyps white. 



Locality : iindanians, 20 fathoms. 



Dendronephthya gregoriensis, Henderson. 



The colony is bush-shaped and measures 7 cm. in length and 4-5 cm. in 

 greatest width. 



The stalk is :3"3 cm. in length and of moderate thickness. It is somewhat 

 flabby, and gives off a large number of long slender stolons at its base. 



The polyparium forms almost 

 a perfect cylinder, rounded off at 

 its apex and slightly irregular 

 owing to the feebler development 

 of the branches on one side. It 

 shows no trace of flattening, is 

 compact in appearance and has 

 an approximately even surface, 

 almost all the polyps reaching to 

 the same level. The main stem 

 continues almost its whole length 

 entire, only dividing into two 

 small branches at the tip. From 

 the whole surface of the stem at 

 right, or almost right angles, short 

 rounded branches are given off 

 in every direction. These divide 

 into a number of smaller branches 

 from which the polyp-bearing 

 twigs arise. Only one of the lower branches shows a slight flattening in the stalk. 



The polyps are arranged in small bundles of four to seven, and usually 

 stand closely together. They are oval in shape and placed at an obtuse angle 

 on short stalks of about 1 mm. in length. They have an average height of 

 0-6 mm. and breadth of 07 mm. On the polyp the spicules are arranged in 

 eight double rows ; in each lateral row there are five to six pairs and in each dorsal 

 about three pairs. The uppermost or second upi)ermost pair of the lateral rows 

 are slightly longer than the others and project a little beyond the polyp. They 

 are straight or slightly curved spindles on an average 0"42 mm. in length, 

 while the lower polyp-spicules measure about 018 mm. in length. They are 

 covered by prominent spines which stand at right angles to the surface, except 

 on the projecting portion where they are directed obliquely towards the tip. 



Fig. 43. D. gregoriensis. 



