172 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 14 



short stalk and sharply decurved beak, attached one on either side just 

 proximal to the operculum. Harmer (1926:412) described extremely 

 vestigial ovicells for this species, but these were not noted in our material. 



This species is distributed around the world in the southern hemi- 

 sphere and as far north as the Mediterranean Sea and Japan. In Ameri- 

 can waters it has hitherto been noted only at the Straits of Magellan 

 (Busk), and Terra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands (Calvet). 



Hancock Stations : 394-34, 843-38, and 844-38, Lobos de Afuera Is- 

 lands, Peru, shore to 25 fms. 



Beania hirtisslma (Heller), 1867 

 Plate 26, figs. 4 and 5 



Diachoris hirtissima Heller, 1867:94. 

 Beania hirtissima, Marcus, 1937:62. 

 Beania'hirtissima, Osburn, 1940:397. 



The zoarium usually forms a loosely attached spreading spinous 

 mat, sometimes rising free and unilaminar, occasionally tubular in form, 

 bristling like a porcupine. The zooecia are of moderate size, about 0.60 

 mm long from septum to septum, of which the proximal tubular portion 

 is about one-fourth ; widely separated by fenestrae which are about one- 

 half as large as the zooecia, and connected by tubular lateral processes 

 of the same length as the basal tubular portion but narrower. The 

 astonishing array of spines shows three types : ( 1 ) distal straight spines 

 projecting forward, laterally and more or less erect, 8 or 10 in number; 

 (2) lateral spines 8 to 12 on each side, which curve over the opesia with 

 their points often interlacing; and (3) dorsal spines, 5 in number, with 

 the following arrangement, — one on each side between the distal and 

 disto-lateral tubes, another between the disto- and proximo-lateral tubes, 

 and one in the midline about the middle of the zooecium. Occasionally 

 there is another single median spine near the proximal end of the zooeci- 

 um, and this one frequently develops a branching hold-fast at its tip. 



Avicularia and ovicells are wanting. 



The species has a wide distribution in warmer waters, occurs on the 

 Atlantic coast from Bermuda to Brazil, but has not been recorded pre- 

 viously from the Pacific coast of the Americas. 



Hancock Stations: 303, Port Culebra, Costa Rica, 17 fms, 2 small 

 colonies on a coralline nodule, and Station 313, Secas Islands, Panama, 

 25 fms. 



