THE ALCYONARIA OF THE MALDIVES. 489 



C. Gr. C. yellow, shading into pink at the termination of the branches, crown and points 

 purple. 



D. G. C. red, with a few yellow spicules occurring irregularly among the red ones; 

 crown and points yellow fading into white, the spicules of the crown being more frequently 

 yellow than those of the points. 



E. G. C. yellow ; crown and points purple. 



F. G. C. pink ; crown and points purple. (Some fragments have G. C. yellow.) 



G. G. C. of the stem red, fading into yellow in the main branches ; crown and points orange. 

 The specimen D (Fig. 8) having a total height of 50 mm. has a stalk (barren stem) 23 i^™- 



in length, it is slightly expanded at the base, where it is 8 mm. in diameter and 6-75 mm. 

 at the level of the lowest branch. It bears ten small branches, given off irregularly from 

 all sides of the stem, and some of the larger of these bear rudimentary branchlets. The 

 anthocodiae are crowded at the termination of the branches, but occur more scattered on 

 all parts of the branches and main stem above the stalk. Specimen G, having a total height 

 of 65 mm., has a stalk 36 mm. in length. The expanded base of attachment is 11-25 mm. 

 wide, and the stalk narrows to a diameter of 3'5 mm. at the level of the lowest branch. 

 There are only six short branches, the longest being 10 mm. in extreme length. 



Further description of these complete specimens is unnecessary, as it is perfectly obvious 

 that they are young colonies which would have altered very materially in form and pro- 

 bably in colour also had they grown to the full size. 



The fragments {H) from the same locality are in all probability branches of a larger 

 colony which may have reached its maximum size. On these we find a cluster of four or 

 five anthocodiae at the extremity, and others scattered at intervals of 3 — 5 mm. 



It is impossible to say ft-om the evidence of this collection to what size the colonies 

 may grow. I have seen a specimen obtained by Professor Herdman off Ceylon which is 

 over 1 foot in diameter. 



In none of the specimens can it be said that there is a very clearly defined spiral 

 arrangement of the anthocodiae, although on some branches an ill-defined spu-al arrangement 

 can be observed. I do not consider that the spiral arrangement of the anthocodiae can be 

 used as a character of any specific importance, as it is clearly subject to considerable variation. 



In order to discover if possible some character which would be useful as a guide to 

 specific identification I made a careful examination of the anthocodiae of several specimens 

 and branches, carefully comparing the arrangement of the spicules of the crown and points of 

 neighbouring tentacles and polyps. The result was rather disappointing, as a considerable varia- 

 tion was observed throughout. The arrangements of the spicules of the point are not alike 

 even in tentacles of the same polyp, and the range of variation in anthocodiae of the same 

 branch is surprising. However, the investigation has yielded certain general results which may 

 be stated as follows. In the crowns of Chironephthya variabilis (Figs. 9, 10) there are usually 

 about ten rows of spicules arranged parallel with one another, and at right angles to the long 

 axis of the anthocodiae. ■ In the points there are four large and prominent spicules arranged 

 en chevron, of these the two outer ones are usually larger than the inner. The outer and 

 larger spicules are frequently bent slightly in the middle. The two outer spicules of the 

 chevron are the largest spicules of the anthocodiae. In the angle of the chevron other 

 spicules intrude, the number of which varies with the age of the anthocodiae. 



G. II. 63 



