510 EDITH M. PRATT. 



The mesenteries are not so pronounced as in »S'. latum. The two dorsal have grooved 

 and ciliated filaments, while the ventral have a very short, free edge, but no filaments. The 

 lateral appear to end \nih the stomodaeum, and consequently present no free edge. The 

 coelenteric cavities of neighbouring autozooids and siphonozooids are placed in direct com- 

 munication with one another by means of short ciliated canals. 



In addition to the zoochlorellae which are present in considerable numbers, rounded cells 

 of a yellow colour (fig. 4) occur in the ectodermal as well as endodermal tissues. The cells 

 have a nucleus, and are filled with a gi'anular yellow matter, which is insoluble in spirit and 

 apparently unaffected by weak nitric or hydrochloric acids, borax-carmine, haematoxylin, oil 

 of cloves or of cedar wood, but is stained black by iron-brazilien. These cells will be more 

 fully described and figured in a later publication. 



The spicules are most numerous near the surface of the capitulum, but they are not 

 so densely packed as in Alcyonium. In this portion of the colony they have the form of 

 tiny clubs with small heads, spindles, or spiny rods. The clubs are '084 — '224 mm. in length, 

 and the rods and spindles about "5 mm. by '02 — '04 mm. broad. Rods and spindles are 

 numerous on the anthocodiae of the autozooids, and are arranged in regular oblique lines, 

 so that when an autozooid is contracted, the soft parts are enclosed and protected by a 

 conical cap of spicules (p. 509), which recalls the operculum of certain fossil corals. 



The spicules of the coenenchym are slender spindles similar in form to those occurring 

 in the autozooids. They are from "56 mm. long and about "018 mm. broad. Spicules "O? mm. 

 broad are also present; they are about the same length, and covered with simple spines. The 

 spicules of the stalk are larger and stouter than those of the capitulum, being "56 — "7 mm. 

 long and "12 mm. broad. They are tuberculate, warted spindles, similar in form and sculpturing 

 to those of the new genus Sderophytiim (fig. 20), but slightly smaller. 



S. glaucum, then, is characterised by (1) its abundant mucous secretion, which gives 

 to the colony in its living condition a slimy appearance ; (2) its green colour, which how- 

 ever is somewhat soluble in spirit ; (3) its soft, flexible texture ; (4) the large size of the 

 autozooids; and (5) the clearly defined siphonozooids, which differ from all other species 

 which I have examined in the shortness of their stomodaea, and feebly marked mesenteries. 



3. Sarcophytum latum, Dana, 1849 (PL LVIII. figs. 6 and 7), Dana, 18-59, p. 125. 

 Whitelegge, 1897, p. 215. 



A single fragment of a colony was taken at Hulule, Male, Maldive Islands. It consists 

 of a portion of the capitulum measuring 68 mm. x 42 mm. in diameter and about 10 mm. 

 in thickness, and a portion of the stalk. As in Mr Gardiner's specimen from Funafuti 

 the autozooids are usually about 1 mm. apart, and are much more numerous at the margin 

 of the capitulum, where the autozooids are younger, and are consequently smaller than 

 elsewhere. 



The siphonozooids are fairly large, the average surface diameter of a siphonozooid being 

 •33 mm. There are usually from 3 to 4 in a straight line between two autozooids. The 

 siphonozooids are often arranged with the ventral edges of the stomodaea pointing in the 

 same direction, but here and there may be seen in alternating rows with the ventral edges 

 pointing in opposite directions. The stomodaeum is longer than in S. glaucum, and is '3 mm. 

 in length. The eight mesenteries are all well-marked, the ventral and lateral mesenteries 



