PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 199 



by transverse lines of white; tbe central dark line is sometimes absent; 

 colnran translucent, dull gray or grayish white, striped with narrow 

 flake-white lines, between which the dark internal organs show^ through; 

 a circle of lunate si)ots of opaque yellowish white is situated just belo^\ 

 the tentacles, corresponding with the broad longitudinal stripes. Disk 

 often much jirotruded, yellowish white, radiated with opaque white. 



Provincetown, Mass., in sand, at low-water (IT. S. FivSh Commission, 

 1879). 



Authothela, gen. uov. 



This generic division is proposed for the Briareum yrandiflorum (Sars) 

 and allied species. It is related to Briareum and Faragorgia in having 

 a soft spiculose axis, but its polyp -cells are prominent and permanently 

 exsert, and the polyps themselves are not entirely retractile. The coen- 

 enchyma is thin, and often spreads out irregularly over foreign bodies 

 or around the base, as an encrustation. 



Anthothela graudiflora (Sars) Verrill. 



Briareum yraudiflorum Sars, Fauua Litt. Norvegiie, p. 63, pi. 10, fig. 10-12. 

 This species lias been obtained in several instances by the Gloucester 

 halibut fishermen in deep water, off Nova Scotia, and presented to the 

 U. S. Fish Commission. It was first obtained by Capt. N. McPhee and 

 crew, of the schooner "Carl Schurz," off" Sable Island. 



Halipteris Christii (Koren and Dan.) Kollikpr. 



A single specimen of a species of Halipteris^ which is, perhaps, iden- 

 tical with the above species, although differing somewhat from the 

 descrii)tions and figures of the Norwegian form, has been presented to the 

 U. S. Fish Commission by Capt. Thos. F. Hodgdon and crev/, of the 

 schooner " Bessie W. Somes," from the Grand Bank. 



Alcyonium digitatum Linn6 (?). 



Two specimens, which I refer very doubtfully to this species, were 

 taken by Captain Greenwood and crew, of the schooner " Sultana," in 80 

 fathoms, on Clark's Bank, east of Cape Cod. 



They form low, thick, lobular masses, with the i>olyps scattered over 

 the entire surface, except at the very base, and everywhere showing 

 the coenenchyma between them. The base is somewhat spreading, and 

 there is no nmin trunk, for the division into rounded or flattened lobes 

 takes i)la(!e close to the base, and they again subdivide, so that a groui> 

 of short, thick, obtuse lobes, partly rounded and partly flat, results. 

 The polyps are rather larger than in A. carneum, and some are retracted 

 into the cells that are scattered over the c(rnenchyma, and others more 

 or less expanded; toward the summits of the lobes they are more 

 numerous, but not crowded. The surface of the cienenchyma, under a 

 lens, shows a granular appearance, due to the small white spicula. 



If not identical with A. digitatum of Europe, it is at least very closely 



