THE ALCYONARIA OF THE MALDIVES. 823 



The verrucae vaiy considerably. In A they are pointed and about 1 mm. in height, at the 

 base of B they are broader and less prominent. In places they have an appearance like 

 "a shallow ledge that reminds one of the edible nests of the swallow (Callocalia)," similar 

 to that described by Wright and Studer for >S. profunda (26). 



The verrucae are an-anged in 6 or 7 slightly spiral rows. 



The only specimens of this genus that have hitherto been described were found in the 

 Pacific Ocean. S. profunda, New Hebrides, 130 fathoms; S. gracilis, New Hebrides, 130 fathoms; 

 S. moniliforme, Amboina, 100 fathoms; S. rubra, off Japan, 345 fathoms. 



The specimens fi'om Nilandu should be placed in a new species for which I propose the 

 name Scirpearella indica. 



The principal characters that distinguish the species are that the spicules rarely exceed 

 0"85 mm. in length and are in general smaller than they are in other species, and that the 

 verrucae are arranged in 5 — 7 rows. 



Order PENNATULACEA. 

 Family Pennatulida. 



Pennatula murrayi, Kolliker (14). 



Locality. Suvadiva, 43 fathoms. Lagoon. 



Only two Pennatulids were sent to me and both of them belong to this species. The 

 species was originally discovered by the Challenger in 129 fathoms on the S.E. coast of Ceram. 

 It was subsequently described by Moroff^ from the coast of Japan, and has recently been re- 

 discovered by the Siboga in 112 — 397 metres in the Ceram Sea. 



The species is characterised by the enlargement and modification in structure of one of 

 the siphonozooids at the base of each of the leaves. The structure of this remarkable siphono- 

 zooid will be fully described in a subsequent paper. 



The two specimens were respectively 30.5 mm. and 60 mm. in total length. The larger 

 one exhibits 75 leaves on each side of the raohis, many of them being quite rudimentary, and 

 the largest leaves are composed of eight autozooids. The smaller specimen has only 19 pairs 

 of leaves, the largest with four autozooids. 



The colour is, as in the other specimens of the species, perhaps the most delicate and 

 beautiful of any species of Pennatulid. The terminal portion of the stalk is pink, but at the 

 base of the lowermost leaves there is a broad band of dark-red, the rest of the rachis is 

 pale-red. The leaves are yellow but each of the largest anthocodiae of the leaves bears a 

 crown of red spicules. 



Both of these Maldive Pennatulas are probably young ones, as was also the type specimen 

 from CeraTn. 



Many of the Siboga specimens which are now in my hands for description are much larger, 

 the largest of all being 600 mm. in total length. 



' Th. Moroff, Zool. Jahrhuch xvn. 3, System. 



G. II. 106 



