526 ME. G. C. BOUEiSrE OA' THE GENUS LEMNALIA AND 



not belong to the genus Ammothea, for the presence of a close feltwork of spicules in the 

 partitions between the anthosteles of the stem and branches show it to be a member of 

 the subfamily Sipho)iogorgince as defined by Wright and Stiider. 



The genus Lemnalia was described by Gray in the following terms * : — 

 " Coral soft, fleshy, formed of numerous clustered small cylindrical tubes ; the outer 

 surface is smooth, destitute of any appearance of spicules, but showing by grooves the 

 union of the diflFerent tubes that form the mass, each tube ending in a polype. The base 

 is broad and expanded horizontally, fleshy like the coral, throwing iip several stems which 

 are irregularly branched, the lateral branches being somewhat two-rowed, the terminal 

 branches ratlier clustered, each branchlet ending in a cylindrical polype, the mouth and 

 tentacles of which are completely retractile, only leaving a central knob surrounded by 

 eight slightly depressed radiating grooves, and entirely destitute of any appearance of 

 superficial spicules. The whole coral is flaccid, and the larger branches appear to be 

 more or less compressed, but this may in great part depend on the state of the specimens." 

 A small woodcut, which faithfully represents the general habit of the type species, 

 accompanies Gray's description. He included in the genus the type species Lemnalia 

 Jukesii, L. termmalis= Alcyonum terminale, Quoy & Gaimard, and L. uitida=Ammothea 

 nitida, Verrill. 



Verrill t immediately objected to his species being placed in the genus Lemnalia as 

 defined by Gray, pointing out that his Ammothea nilida, tbough it appeared smooth to 

 the naked eye, was seen under the microscope to be filled with numerous slender closely- 

 interlaced spicules ; that similar spicules, "25 to '5 mm. long by '02 to "025 mm. thick, 

 occurred in t)ie interior of the stem, and that the " verruca? " {i. e. the anthocodiaj) w' ere 

 covered with small stout wai'ty spicules "075 to "125 mm. long by "05 to '075 mm. thick. 

 I can add tliis further objection, that the tentacles are not retractile in any species of 

 Lemnalia, but arc simply infolded over the oral disc. In fact, Gray's diagnosis was 

 utterly wrong in several important particulars, and it was only by chance that I examined 

 the type species in the British Museum and saw that it was closely related to the 

 specimen which I had already identified with Verrill's Ammothea nitida. But Verrill 

 was equally beside the mark when he compared liis species with Savigny's figures of 

 Ammothea virescens [ = 'Nephthya Cordieri, Audouin, Explic. PI. Sav.). There is no likeness 

 whatever between Saviguy's figures and Lemnalia nitida, but there is, on the other hand, 

 a very close resemblance between Quoy & Gaimard's J figures of Alcyonum terminale and 

 Gray's Lemnalia, and the latter author was undoul^tedly right in jilacing this species in 

 his new genus. I have found a S2:)ecimen in the British Museum which appears to be 

 identical with it. A sj)ecies described as Alcyonum ramosum is figured in the same place 

 by Quoy it Gaimard. In habit it resembles Ammothea virescens, Savigny, but the figures 

 of the anthocodife, which are pedicelled, with rounded heads and infolded tentacles, 

 recall those of Lemnalia. The position of this species must remain doubtful for the 

 present. There are four species of Lemnalia in the British Museum — viz., the type 



* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 18GS, ii. p. 442. 



t American Journal of Science & Arts, 2nd ser. xlvii. 1869, p. 282. 



X ' Voyage de TAstrolabe,' Zool. iv. p. 282, pi. sxiii. figs. 1.5-17. 



