30 ThOMSOJN, South African Gorgonacea 



divides at a low level into two ])rimanes, both of which give 

 rise to branches of a second, third, or even fourth order m an 

 irregular pinnate manner; the secondaries may be almost as 

 strongly developed as the primaries ; the branchlets may be 

 opposite or alternate. 



The main stem is cylindrical and the two primaries also, 

 but above those the .branches are clearly flattened in the plane 

 of expansion, with the exception of the apical, which are almost 

 round. The branches are generally not pointed at the apices, 

 but are blunt or slightly rounded, and in most cases expand in 

 diameter towards their apices. The secondary branches fre- 

 quently arise from the primaries at angles of about 45°, and 

 curve outwards, and then upwards and inwards, in a slightly 

 sinuate manner. The secondaries are frequently separated from 

 one another at their origin by intervals of about | of an inch. 

 At various points on the secondaries there are short tertiaries 

 only about 5 mm. in length, which have a stunted, almost club- 

 like appearance. The upper branches are flexible, but the 

 specimen has a certain rigidity towards the base. 



The axis is strongly developed, is brown or black near the 

 base, and yellow towards the apex. The coenenchyme covering 

 the axis is white and granular, but the colour of the axis shows 

 through it. 



The coenenchyme on the lower main stem is i 'loth to 

 I /20th of a millimetre in thickness, on the apical branches it 

 is, comparatively speaking, thicker. The presence of longitu- 

 linal lines or grooves is very clearly marked on most of the 

 two flattened surfaces of the stem and branches except at the 

 apices. Five or six of these grooves occur on each of the 

 flattened sides of the basal stem, but higher up they gradually 

 become reduced in number. 



The distribution of the polyps varies to some extent at 

 different parts, but is mainly bilateral. On the lower stem and 

 branches along each of the narrowed sides, there are usually 

 two rows of polyps disposed in each of these, alternate to one 

 another, but polyps also occur here and there on the flattened 

 sides in a more irregular manner. The lateral polyps are 

 separated from one another by an interval of \ to i mm. On 

 the apical branches, which frequently have a slightly curved 

 or twisted course, the polyps are irregularly distributed on all 

 sides. 



The polyps are small, even when the tentacles are extended 

 beyond the calyces, which is usually the case in my specimen ; 

 when they are retracted the opening of the calyx has a slightl}- 

 oblong, two-lipped appearance. 



The diameter of the basal stem is about 2.5 mm., that of a 

 primary branch 2.5 by 1.2 mm., of an apical .5 mm. 



The spicules are mainly double spindles, with large ex- 

 panded processes; their size is from about 0.054 ^ 0.027 to 

 0.081 X 0.036 mm. They do not appear to be so markedly 



