480 SYDNEY J. HICKSON. 



Family Telestidae (Milne Edwards). 

 Genus Telesto (Lamaroux). 



Two distinct species of this genus were found in the collection from the Maldives. 

 One of them is probably Telesto trichostemma (Dana), and the other is new. The new 

 form I propose to call Telesto rubra. The specimens of Telesto trichostemma were dredged 

 in 25 fathoms in Mulaku Atoll and in 24 fathoms Miladumadulu Atoll. 



One fragment of the new species was found in the same dredging in Mulaku, and the 

 other in Mahlos Atoll, 23 fathoms. It is to be noticed that both specimens of the new 

 species are freely encrusted with a sponge, a Prosuherites, in the case of the Mahlos specimen, 

 and a Leptosia sp. n. in the case of the Mulaku specimen. The Telesto trichostemma, 

 however, is entirely free from sponge encrustations. 



The occurrence of encrusting sponges on Telesto has been recorded by Dana (5) in the 

 case of Telesto fruticulosa, by Wright and Studer (23) in Telesto trichostemma from Torres 

 Straits, and by Miss Hiles (12) in T. rupicola from Blanche Bay. 



In a former paper (10) I suggested that Telesto should be removed from the family 

 Clavulariidae and placed among the Alcyonidae. At the time I wrote that paper I had 

 very little acquaintance with the genus, and I am now in agreement with May (17), who 

 suggests the retention of Milne Edwards' family Telestidae in a position intermediate 

 between the Clavulariidae and the Alcyonidae. 



Telesto ruhra sp. nov. 



Specimen A. Mulaku Atoll, 25 fethoms. Fine mud and rubble at the edge of the lagoon. 

 Specimen B. Mahlos Atoll, 23 fathoms, N.E. lagoon. 



Both of these specimens are unfortunately fragmentary, and as the base is missing I 

 have no knowledge of the method by which the colony is fixed to the bottom. The 

 species is easily recognised, however, by the bright pink to red colour of the tubes. 

 The spicules of the body-walls of the axial and lateral polyps become firmly fused 

 together to form a solid tubular skeleton, perforated by numerous irregular and minute 

 channels, traversed by strands of mesogloea. These tubes have a remarkable similarity in 

 their construction to the tubes of the genus Tubipora, but are distinguished by the 

 presence of eight distinct longitudinal ridges (Fig. 2). 



In Telesto trichostenwia Studer states that " the spicules surrounding the elongated 

 digestive cavities of the primary and secondary axial polyps lie in such intimate contact 

 with one another that, in the older parts of the colony, they form a continuous calcareous 

 cylinder. Towards the base this is further strengthened by the horny substance secreted 

 between the spicules." These tubes show as in T. rubra eight longitudinal ridges. In 

 2\ trichostemma, and in other species of Telesto which form a tubular skeleton that remains 

 rigid on drying or slight treatment with caustic potash, the spicules appear to be bound 

 together by a horny substance developed in the mesogloea. In the new species this is 

 not the case, no appreciable amount of horny substance being noticed either in the sections 

 of decalcified or in dried specimens. The rigidity of the skeleton is entirely due to the 



