88 



Considerable interest attaches to these specimens, as the 

 only Pennatulid which has hitherto been recorded from South 

 African waters is the t}pe specimen of Halisceptrum gus- 

 tavianiim var. parvifolia in the Stockholm Museum, which 

 was found at Port Natal. The genus Halisceptrum 

 approaches closely some of the species of Virgularia, and it 

 may be a matter of some doubt whether these specimens are 

 rightly referred to Virgularia or Halisceptrum. 



For reasons which, in my opinion, are sufficient I propose 

 to refer them to the species Virgularia reinwardti. The 

 fragments are approximately of the same size, the . larger 

 being 126 mm. in length, 9 mm. in diameter at the 

 widest part, with a bare ventral side 2 mm. in breadth. The; 

 length of Kolliker's specimen 3 was 178 mm., of which 43 

 was taken by the stalk, which is absent in our specimens, so 

 that it is probable that in life they w^ere of about the same 

 length. The breadth of the plume at the widest part was in 

 Kolliker's specimen No. 3, 3^ mm. There is so much dififer- 

 ence in the thickness of Pennatulids, however, according to 

 the method in which they have been killed and preserved, 

 that I do not think this difference between our specimens and 

 KolHker's No. 3 should be regarded as one of very serious 

 importance. 



The arrangement of the siphonozooids in our specimens 

 is the crucial point upon which my opinion is based that they 

 should 1)e referred to the species V. Reinwardti. Virgularia 

 reinwardti is the only species in which the siphonozoids occur 

 in a row on the leaves — one siphonozoid to each autozooid 

 (7). The other species of the genus have a very different 

 arrangement of the siphonozooids. There is one point of 

 difference, however, between our specimens and the type. 

 Kolliker describes and figures one isolated siphonozooid on 

 the bare part of the axis at the margin of each leaf. " Zooide 

 laterale je Eine Reihe zwischen zwei Blattern bildend von 

 denen ventral je ein Zooid noch auf den Kiel ubergeht." 

 This isolated zooid I cannot find in the Cape specimens. 



Our specimens agree with the type in bearing 18 auto- 

 zooids in each of the leaves I have examined. 



They were obtained in the dredge on 3rd March, i8gg, in 

 St. Francis Bay, lat. 34° 2 20" S.. long. 25° ti' 45" E 

 Depth: 30 fathoms. 



No sexual organs were observed in the specimen. 



