ALCYONOID POLYPS. 83 
obtained by Dr. W. Stimpson, near Hong Kong, and called by 
its discoverer Anthelia lineata ; the polyps are but partly ex- 
panded. 
Other Alcyonoids are much branched, with the branches 
thick and finger-like, and soft or flexible, and the polyps small 
and wholly retractile into the mass. The branches, bare of 
polyps, are usually of some dull pale color, and on account of 
this fact some of these Alcyonia go by the common name of 
dead-men’s fingers. 

ANTHELIA LINEATA, ST. 
The above kinds secrete granules or spicules of carbonate 
of lime in the tissues, and are harsher or softer in texture ac- 
cording to the proportion of these granules. 
Some species form branching tubes, rising from an in- 
crusting base, which are rather firm owing to the calcareous 
spicules present. Such species are referred to the genus Te- 
lesto—one of which, from Hong Kong, from the collection 
made by Dr. Stimpson, is here figured (from Verrill). The 
second figure shows the form of the expanded polyps. 
Another species of Telesto, 7. trichostemma, is represented 
colored, as in life, in figures 1, 2a, on Plate VI. It encrusts 
the dead axis of a branching Antipathes. The polyp is re- 
markable for its size and beauty. 
In one family of this tribe the polyps form red calcareous 
tubes; sometimes a slender, creeping tube, with polyps at 
intervals, as in a species referred by the author to the venus 
