THE ALCYONARIA OF THE MALDIVES. 517 



(fig. 30). Owing to the growth of new lobes, in older specimens the cuplike form is often 

 obliterated (fig. 29). Many exhibit a more or less well-marked lateral compression. Some 

 of the specimens have a short, broad stalk and a much lobed convex capitulum as in 

 Sc. capitale (fig. 8), in which the branches are closely set. In some cases the lobes are 

 long, slender, branched, and digitate as in Sc. polydactylum. Some specimens are long-stalked 

 and erect with slender or stout, more or less arborescent branches as in Sc. querciforme 

 and Sc. palmatum (figs. 33 and 26). 



The mesogloea in which the spicules are imbedded varies in density in different species. 

 It is most abundant in the soft fleshy forms. In species with very large spicules it is 

 always very dense and stains readily. 



The spicules are large compared with those of allied genera. Spicules 2 — 4 mm. in 

 length, are common in many species, but in Sc. querciforme they attain a length of 6 mm. 

 and in Sc. durum are even larger, a fair number attaining 7 mm. in length by 1'7 mm. in 

 breadth. 



Most of the spicules have tuberculate warts on their surface (fig. 20) and vary consider- 

 ably in shape. The most common type is the spindle with blunt or sharply -pointed ends. 

 This form is found throvighout, but is not confined to the genus, it occurs also in Sarco- 

 phytum (S. plicatum and S. boettgeri), and also in Sinularia, which, however, cannot be regarded 

 as a true genus (p. 516). I have not observed this form of spicule in any species of the 

 amended Lobophytuni. 



Some of the tuberculate spicules are curved, some are crescentic, kidney-shaped, or ridged 

 so that they are triangular in cross section, as in Sc. durum (fig. 31). In many species 

 they are branched and are Y or K shaped, or have several forks as in Sc. capitale (fig. 16). 

 They are sometimes irregularly dumb-bell shaped (fig. 32/), but this form of spicule is rare. 

 The tubercles are often arranged in more or less straight lines. Usually they are very 

 numerous but in a few cases are sparsely scattered over the surface of a spicule. In Sc. 

 durum and other species the tubercles are so closely set that a mosaic is formed (fig. 31 h). 



In every species of the genus, which I have examined, minute clubs and spindles are 

 more or less crowded near the surface, but they form a much thinner crust than in Alcyonium 

 or Acrophytum. These clubs often vary in shape to a considerable extent in a single specimen 

 (fig. 32 a, h, c, d, e). In some cases, the head is simply a knotted prolongation of the handle, 

 but many of the clubs are bi- or tri-ramous. In all cases tuberculate warts are scattered 

 in varying numbers over their surface. The spindles near the surface are usually very small, 

 and dotted with a few simple spines (fig. 32 g). Small spindles or rods generally occur in 

 the outer walls and tentacles of the autozooids, and form a protective, calcareous, more or 

 less conical cap which covers the aperture when the autozooid is partially retracted as in 

 Sarcophytum. 



Zooids. Of the eight species represented in the collection, four are dimorphic, but in 

 all these the siphonozooids show unmistakable signs of degeneration. In two species the latter 

 has proceeded further, and only vestiges of siphonozooids are present. In the remaining two 

 species siphonozooids are absent. 



In some of the species slight signs of degeneration are discernible in the autozooids. 



The autozooids on the whole are smaller in this genus than they are in either Sarco- 

 jihytum or Lobophytum. They are usually most numerous on the tips of the lobes. 



