55 



above, but they are sometimes spatulate or flattened at their ends. In some cases the young 

 polyps project between the plates of the ccenenchyma without any appearance of calyces. 



The polyps are not completely retractile and rest with their collarets on the calyx 

 margins. The collaret and operculum are exceedingly heavy, the latter being composed of two 

 heavy spindles extending along the whole length of the infolded tentacle and a third shorter 

 one lying between their bases. The ccenenchyma is filled with irregular plates with thorny 

 edges, placed hap-hazard, not matched as in the genus Ac/y, but looking as if they had been . 

 thrown together without any method or regularit)' whatever. 



Spicules. These are of the most characteristic Thcsca type that the writer has seen. 

 They are rather plates than unilateral spindles, however, and in some cases have a basal 

 tubercular portion from which a cluster of smooth slender foliaceous projections arise, which 

 approximate the Acaniptogorgia type. 



Color. The colony is grayish brown, the axis dark brown and the spicules colorless. 



7. Thcsca sanguinca new species. (Plate IX, figs. 5, 5«; Plate XXI, fig. i). 



Stat. 60. Haingsisi, Island Samau, Timor. 23 meters. Coral bottom. 

 Stat. 125. Anchorage off Savvan, Siau Island. 27 meters. Stony. 

 Stat. 273. East coast of Aru Islands. 13 meters. Sand and shells. 



Stat. 315. Anchorage East of Sailus Besar, Paternoster Islands. Up to 36 meters. Coial and 

 Lithothamnion. 



Colony flabellate in form, 5 cm. in height, and with a .spread of 3.6 cm. The main stem 

 is straight and without branches to a point 1.7 cm. from its base. Above this it gives forth 

 lateral branches in an irregular manner, each branch curving outward and upward. The average 

 distance between branches is about 7 mm. The branches are round, or but slightly flattened 

 and are of approximately equal diameter (i mm.) throughout, except at the ends where they 

 are distinctly turgid. The calyces are rather evenly distributed on all sides of the branches, 

 except that they are more closely approximated on the distal parts of the colony. 1 hey are 

 from I mm. to 1.5 mm. apart. 



The individual calyces are very low Verrucae or very short cylinders, their walls being 

 mere bands rising but slightly above the general level of the ccenenchyma. Their margins are 

 about I.I mm. in diameter, and are armed with a distinct circlet of blunt but prominent points. 

 The calyx walls are so low that this crown of points is about all that rises above the level 

 of the cctnenchyma. The polyps are completely retractile, and when retracted are disc-shaped 

 from the shallowness of the calyces. The operculum and collaret are evident, but weakly developed . . 



Spicules. There are two well defined layers of spicules, the inner one being composed 

 of small spindles. The outer layer is composed of larger spicules of two types. One of these 

 is of the regular Thcsca type of unilateral spindles with jagged points on one side. The other 

 kind are much larger and .stouter spindles, some of which are also unilateral. These latter are 

 embedded in the crcnenchyma of the stem and branches. Besides these preponderating forms there 

 are a few crosses, stars, triradiate forms and, rarely, a small spicule of the Acainptogorgian type. 



