100 



Dendronephthya albogilva, Henderson. 



The colony is small, round, com})act, with a slightly flattened, ball-shaped 

 polypariuni, which with its creamy-white colour presents a striking contrast to 

 the reddish stalk. It measures fully 45 cm. in height and has a maximum 

 breadth of about 3 cm. 



The stalk is 25 cm. in length, fully half the total height, rigid, leathery 



in texture and granular in appearance. Its upper portion is covered by the 



reflexed lower branches, and at its base it gives off a few short, thick stolons. 



The polyparium is small, rounded, flattened, and shows three very short, 



blunt protuberances at the upper end. All the branches are of nearly the same 



length, and are cylindrical in the lower part ; 

 by repeated division they give rise to the 

 polyp-bearing twigs. In the upper half of 

 the polyparium the smaller branches and 

 twigs remain cylindrical in shape, but in the 

 lower half the division is either imperfectly 

 carried out, thus giving rise to a flat upper 

 portion with short lobes at the end, or if the 

 division is carried out, the smaller branches 

 and twigs are slightly flattened. The stem 

 rises almost to the tip without giving off 

 any large branches, but just below the tip it 

 gives off one or two and then divides into 

 principal portions which are very short but 

 still give rise to numerous small branches 

 similar to those on the lower part of the 

 polyparium, and also produce the blunt pro- 

 tuberances at the top. All the branches on 

 the stem stand at a right angle except those 

 at the lower end which are bent downwards 

 towards the base ; those that arise from the 

 principal branches stand at an acute angle. 

 The polyps are arranged in bundles of four to twelve, which generally 

 stand close together, though more spread out on the lower part of the poly- 

 parium. They are small, measuring 0"5 mm. in height and 0"6 mm. in breadth, 

 and are placed at an obtuse angle on stalks about 1 mm. long. The spicules 

 are arranged in eight double rows in the following manner : In each lateral 

 row there are five to six pairs of converging spicules, of which the upper- 

 most pair may be larger than the rest and project a little beyond the polyp, 

 and in each dorsal row there are three to four pairs. The spicules are slightly 



Fig. 51. D. albogilva. 



