104 



an average length of 032 mm. and breadth of 0032 mm. Here, one may say, 

 there are two types of polyps, one with spicules usually colourless or the lower 

 spicules only very faintly tinged with pink, the other with the upper spicules 

 colourless and the lower a deep brick red. In the latter the spicules are on 

 the whole slightly larger and tend to project beyond the polyp and also pro- 

 ject more through the wall of the polyp, giving it a rougher appearance. 



The Stiitzbundel consists of a number of spicules of an average length of 

 1-12 mm., two or more of which may project for a very short distance beyond 

 the polyp-head. 



Cortical spicules : (a) In the stem the spicules are spindles, either straight 

 or curved, with few small spines on the surface ; they vary from 016 to IS mm. 

 in length and from 0032 to Oil mm. in breadth. They are arranged irregularly 

 on the stem and branches but tend to lie more parallel to the length in the 

 smaller branches and twigs. 



{/)) In the stalk there are spindles, clubs, branched and four- and five-rayed 

 forms, and a large number of small irregular spindles and stellate forms. In all 

 there is a very large development of huge spines either simple or branched. 

 On the spindles the spines are often greatly developed along one side and poorly 

 on the other. Spindles vary in length from 032 to ri2 mm. and in breadth from 

 0048 to 012 mm. Clubs average 04 mm. in length. 



Canal-wall spicules : {a) In the stem there are simple spindles with very 

 few spines ; they vary from 016 to 072 mm. in length and from 0048 to 0064 

 mm. in breadth. 



{b) In the stalk there are spindles similar to those in the stem canals 

 but more numerous and slightly thicker. They vary in length from 016 to 07 

 mm. and in breadth from 0048 to Oil mm. 



Colour — Stalk, stem, branches and twigs semi-transparent to faint 

 yellowish-white ; polyp-stalks white, with a slight tendency to become reddish 

 in their upper part in some cases ; polyps whitish ; polyp-spicules reddish in 

 a few cases, but usually colourless. 



Locality : Palk Straits. 



Dendronephthya lanxifera, Holm, var. andamanensis, Henderson. 



In this specimen, which measures 37 cm. in height and 4 3 cm. in greatest 

 breadth, the stalk is wanting. 



The polyparium is flattened in one plane, oval in shape with the long axis 

 at an angle to the stem, not regular in outline but with an almost unbroken 

 surface. The branching is not profuse and the main stem rises only a short dis- 

 tance before it divides into two large main divisions one of which is slightly 

 larger than the other. In the same plane as these two, and almost at the 



