28 Thomson, Sont/i Ajncaii Gorgonacea. 



Family Gorgoniidas. 

 Leftogorg'ia africana, sp.n. 

 Plate v., Fig. 7. 



The specimen is yellowish or brownish in colour, and has 

 numerous, densely distributed polyps, usually with prominent 

 calyces. From the colour of many of the spicules of the coenen- 

 chyme, I am inclined to think that during life the colour was 

 brighter, probably approaching red. The branching is mostly 

 in one plane, and there is at one part a slight anastomosis.: 

 The coenenchyme is fairly thick, finely granular, and has a 

 line or groove on two' of the surfaces, which is more pronounced 

 on the lower part of the colony. 



The axis, which is fairly cylindrical throughout, is brown 

 near the base, and yellow at the apices. It is com]:)osed of 

 very closely interwoven fibres, but also' gives a slight effer- 

 vescence with hydrochloric acid. It is not perforated by canals, 

 but the latter are present in the surrounding coenenchyme. In 

 the centre of the axis of the apical branches, internal to the 

 longitudinal fibres, there is a series of small oblong or square 

 areas, arranged one beneath the other, in a vertical direction. 

 No spicules occur in the axis. 



The main shoots are compressed in one plane, so that there 

 are two broad and two narrow surfaces; the diameter of one 

 chief stem near the apparent base is 1.5 by 2 mm. At this 

 more basal part the polyps are disposed up each side of the 

 broad surfaces, and abundantly along the narrow sides, leaving 

 a fairly bare space in the centre. In the more apical branches, 

 however, the polyps are thickly distributed on all sides. The 

 apical branches are sometimes 1.7 by i mm. in diameter. 



The minor branches originate in a series from a central 

 axis, and are either opposite or alternate to one another; they 

 may have a slightly pinnate appearance. These minor branches 

 varying considerably in length, some being half that of others, 

 arise either at rieht angles or at slightly less than rieht angles, 

 and do not terminate in a polyp, but in a small slightly pointed 

 cone. 



The polyp consists of raised calyces, out of which extend 

 white fentacles, and beneath the latter a part of the anthocodia 

 with red spindles. In cases in which the tentacles are with- 

 drawn, the red portion only is seen at the apex of the calyx, 

 and on further contraction a mere slit is seen surrounded by the 

 calyx, the latter having sometimes a slightly two-lippcd appear- 

 ance. The calyces, which are usuallv prominent, being as much 

 as three-quarters of a millimetre in height and diameter, give 

 the specimen a slightly papillated appearance. It has, however, 

 to be noted that thev are also sometimes very small, being then 

 reduced to minute elevations of the surface coenenchyme. The 

 long diarnetcr of the calvces in the contracted condition of the 

 anthocodias is usually parallel with the long axis of the branch. 



