52 



expanding itself downwards on all sides, and then dividing itself into a certain number (usu- 

 ally 4) linear lobes directed obliquely downwards and outwards. Tliese lobes, which are ex- 

 ternally more or less convex, internally concave, very thin and leaf-like, may again divide 

 themselves or send out irregular processes, and are frequently strongly enlarged at the extre- 

 mity, becoming at the same time flatter (see fig. 20 & 21). Externally they are of the same 

 nature as the calcareous joints of the axis, white and somewhat shining, and shew (in larger 

 specimens) a distinct longitudinal striping (see fig. 18. 19. 20) while the interior surface (see 

 tig. 21) is imeven and of a dull greyish color with irregular slightly marked somewhat curved 

 transverse lines (the convexity of the curve downward) which are doubtless lines of growth. 

 The whole root with all its lobes forms an entire connected body of completely calcareous 

 consistency; and it happens not unfrequently that more or less perfect roots of dead exem- 

 plars are found lying loose in the mud, together with numerous detached axis-joints. Some 

 of these isolated root-pieces were very large, and shewed, in connexion with the frequently 

 very thick axis-joints, that this coral certainly attains a considerable size, namely, (judging 

 from these parts) at least the height of 1 foot. The largest root which 1 foimd (fig. 18. 19) 

 has a diameter between the longest lobes of 57 Mm. but the exterior part of the lobes was 

 certainly a good deal broken oft'. On the top, or in the middle_of the upper side, it had a 

 smooth joint-surface to which the first horn-joint of the axis had been attached; below this 

 joint-surface it becomes wider on all sides, and then divides itself into 5 nearly equally de- 

 veloped leaf-like branches inclining downwards and outwards, and in semi-circular arrangement, 

 so that 2 of the branches were diametrically op])osite to each other, and the other 3 radiating 

 all on the same side at equal distances from each other and from the former. A single and 

 apparently entire root-blade particularly strongly enlarged at the end, which was likewise 

 found losse in the mud, and which I have delineated fig. 21. & 22, was 50 Mm. long. The 

 form and the arrangement of these root-blades seem however to be sul)ject to considerable 

 variations generally, and to be dependent on the form and nature of the objects which are 

 to serve for the attachment of the coral. They are therefore often foimd irregularly bent 

 and twisted, and of unequal development, so that often some few of them are of unusual 

 length, while others are stopped in their growth (see for instance fig. 22 & 23). 



As regards the joints of the stem, they are as stated usually very much elongated 

 mostly 10—20 times as long as they are thick, and of cylindrical form, but so that they are 

 somewhat enlarged at both ends, whei-eby especially the shorter joints acquire a shape some- 

 thing like that of an hour-glass (see fig. 13 & 16). In smaller specimens (fig. 3. 4. 6. 12) 

 they are more evenly cylindrical, and apparently quite smooth and somewhat transparent, 

 while in larger exemplars (fig. 13. 14. 16. 17) they are opaque white and distinctly striped in 

 a longitudinal direction. This striping, which is formed by raised parallel ribs and inter- 

 mediate furrows, is usually perfectly straight and regular; I have rarely found joints on which 

 it appeared to run a little obliquely, as if the joint had been twisted to one of the sides 

 (see fig. 17). The joint-surfaces are (see fig. Ki. & 17) usually more or less salient in the 



