Benham. — On a New Si)ecies of Pennatulid. 193 



Art. XVII. — On a New Species of Pennatulid (Sarcophylluni 



bollonsi). 



By AV. B. Benham, D.Sc, Professor of Biology in the University 



of Otago. 



[Bead before the Otago Institute, I'ith AvguM, 1906.] 

 Plate VI. 



This species is the only representative of the " sea-pens " or 

 " sea-feathers " belonging to the " pinnate " division of the 

 pennatulids that has as yet been recorded from the coastal 

 waters of New Zealand, though the more delicate rod-like form 

 {Virgidaria gracillima) has been known for some years.* The 

 present specimen was dredged by Captain Bollons, of the Go- 

 vernment steamship " Hinemoa," in Doubtful Sound, on the 

 west coast of the South Island, in a depth of 40 fathoms of 

 water ; and I have to thank Mr. Hamilton, the Director of the 

 Colonial Museum, to which it was presented, for the opportunity 

 of examining and describing it. 



Class ACTINOZOA. 



Order PENNATULACEA. 



Fam. Pennatulid^. 



Sarcophyllum bollonsi, Benham, Zool. Anz. xxxi, p. 66. 



The " vane " of the feather is only slightly longer than the 

 " peduncle," or naked portion of the stem. It has a rounded 

 outline, the broadest region being near the apex, which is roimded. 

 The " pinnse " are only slightly sickled-shaped ; they are rather 

 thick, fleshy, and bear a single row of autozooids (polyps) in 

 an undulating line along the metarachidian (" dorsal ") margin. 

 The prorachidian (or " ventral ") edge is curved near the free 

 end. The basal margin, or line of attachment to the stem 

 (rachis), is short. There are thirty pairs of pinnae, which (in 

 the present specimen) meet across the rachis, with the excep- 

 tion of the last four on each side. The siphonozooids form a 

 conspicuous cushion-like thickening on the proximal portion 

 of the prorachidian margin, and this cushion extends on to 

 the lower surface of the pinna as a very distinct " zooid plate," 

 and for a much less extent passes over on to the upper surface. 

 The " zooid plate " on the under-surface extends across the 



* Dendy, Tran.s. N.Z. Inst., xxix, 256. 

 7— Trans. 



