300 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



The hydrothecae are among the smallest known in the 

 order ; those of Plumularia procumbens and P. hadia are the 

 only ones which I have observed of so small a size. 



The sarcothecae have the border very slightly sinuated o^ 

 cut down on one side, or they may be described as having 

 the aperture somewhat oblique, the sinuation being so wide 

 and shallow as to be scarcely distinguishable. The term 

 " canaliculate," therefore, is scarcely applicable, but is used 

 for want of a better, and to indicate the affinity between such 

 sarcothecae and those with a deep lateral sinus, to which the 

 term more strictly applies. The lateral sinuation is more or 

 less distinctly traceable in all species of Plumularia and 

 Nemertesia observed by me. 



The gonothecae are small and excessively thin, so that few 

 of them retain their original form. Those which were best 

 preserved resembled the hydrothecae of an Obelia, being 

 widest at or close to the aperture, which is even, and not 

 oblique. They are quite open, and do not appear to have 

 possessed an operculum. Their length is only from 370 to 

 440 fi. N. janini, Lamouroux, possesses a small gonotheca 

 of very similar form. 



Locs. — Oyster Bay, Tasmania, 60 fathoms. 



Thirty-five miles south-east of Bruni Island, Tasmania, 

 150-230 fathoms. 



Nemertesia ciliata, Bale, var. cruciata, var. nov. 



Similar to the type, except that the hydrocladia are mostly 

 in pairs, each pair alternating in position with those above 

 and below. 



Excepting on the proximal portions of the branches the 

 arrangement of the hydrocladia in alternate pairs is very 

 general, though occasionally a branch bears them in sets 

 of three, in which case there is often more or less irregularity 

 among them. The branches seem to begin, more frequently 

 than in the type, with two or three internodes devoid of 

 hydrocladia, and, as in the type, the first few hydrocladia 

 on a branch are irregular in position. A frequent arrange- 

 ment is for two hydrocladia, nearly opposite, to begin the 

 series, followed by three, all at different heights, the rest 

 being in alternate pairs ; many other variations, however, 

 occur. No gonangia were seen. 



The arrangement of the hydrocladia which characterizes 

 the present variety is found also in Antennularia cymodocea 



