Manchester Me jiioirs, I't;/. /.I'i. (1916), No. 1- 21 



entire. The second specimen has the majority of tlic spicules 

 with marj^ins exactly resembling those figured by Wright and 

 Studcr, but the interesting point is that some of them resemble 

 those of the first example in having almost entire margins. 



Locality, etc. — Pieter Faure, No. 12,658. Bashee River 

 beacon, N. I E., about 15 miles. Depth, 300-400 fathoms. 

 By shrimp trawl. Nature of bottom, rocksi Date, April gth, 

 igoi. 



Family, Aiuriceidee. 

 Acanthogorgia aniiata., Verrill. 



This sj>ecics has previously been recorded from South Afri- 

 can waters by Hickson and by myself. The specimens are 

 rather fragmentary, as they are brittle, and tend to become 

 broken. A point to which I will give further attention later 

 on IS the occurrence of blackish spherical masses within the 

 body of some of the polyj)s. The specimens were found in 

 about the same locality as Hickson's specimen.. 



Locality, etc. — P. F., No. 2,567. Vasco da Gama. S.75'' 

 E. 132- milesi. Collected by large dredge. Depth, 166 fathoms. 

 Nature of bottom, black specks. Date of collection, April 25th, 

 I goo. 



Acanthogorgia, sp. 



Plate IV., Fig. 4. 



The specimen is only fragmentary, and has been much 

 rubbed. The axis is horny, yellow or brown. The polyps are 

 long, cylindrical, and expanded towards the mouth. The 

 spicules arc usually curved spindles or club-like forms, form- 

 ing eight longitudinal rows on the body wall of the polyp, 

 each row consisting of pairs of spicules. At the base of the 

 polyp, each spicule of these pairs is arranged at acute angles 

 with the other, but higher up this changes to an obtuse angle, 

 and finally the position of the spicules becomes altered so that 

 they run round the periphery. The tentacles on retraction are 

 bent over the mouth, and external to them are the circles of 

 protective spicules already mentioned, and then eight far- 

 projecting spicules forming an outermost circle. 



The branching, so far as one can ascertain from the incom- 

 plete specimen, is in one plane. The central axis is about 

 I mm. in diameter; the covering coenenchyme with its project- 

 ing spicules is very thin, and the axis can be seen through the 

 tissue. The polyps at some {>arts are arranged in a spiral 

 round the axis, and are usually closely adjacent to one another, 

 with an interval of about a millimetre, but they are still more 

 closely massed together at the apices of the branches. They 

 are placed perpendicularly on their support, and are about 

 2.5 mm. in length, and 1.5 mm. in diameter. 



