84 



a heioht of 6 cm., where it forks into two unequal branches ; one of which bears quite regu- 

 larly alternate branchlets, those on the same side being 6 mm. to 13 mm. apart. The other 

 main branch bears branchlets on one side only, and one of these is itself alternately branched. 

 The terminal branchlets are 2 mm. in diameter. The calyces are pretty evenly distributed 

 over the stem and branches, and do not show a very evident tendency to a lateral position. 

 They are ordinarily less thean 2 mm. apart. 



The individual calyces are low truncated cones, usually not more than i mm. in height 

 and 2 mm. in diameter at the base. Their walls are filled with the overlapping jagged edges 

 of flat, disc-like plates, and the margin is surrounded by points from similar spicules. The 

 calyces are surmounted by the acorn-shaped tentacular portions of the polyps, resting on a well 

 marked collaret. The opercular covering of each tentacle consists of two long, bent spindles, 

 divergent at their proximal ends and convergent at their distal ends, resting on a short spindle 

 lying between their bases. 



Spicules. These are of various forms, including foliaceous discs, extensively branched 

 and tuberculate scales, some Stachelplatten, small spindles, etc. The calyx walls are covered with 

 imbricating plates with ctenate or toothed edges, some of which project above the margin, as 

 in Echinomuricea . The coenenchyma of the stem and branches is thin and filled with warty, 

 branched discs, and spindles set any way with the axis. 



Color. The colony (in alcohol) is nearly white, the stem and branches showing grayish 

 on account of the brown axis cylinder showing through the thin coenenchyma. 



II. Placogorgia reticuloidcs new species. (Plate XVIII, figs. 2, 2d). 



Stat. 273. Dobo, Aru Islands. Reef. 



Stat. 310. 8°30'S., Ii9°7'.5 E. Flores Sea. 73 meters. Sand. (Fragmentary specimen). 



Colony strictly flabellate, not reticulate, although it appears so on superficial inspection. 

 Height 35 cm. Spread 28 cm. The main stem is 5 mm. in diameter, and the branches average 

 2.5 mm. in diameter. About 7 cm. from its base the main stem gives off a branch nearly 

 as large as itself, and about 2.5 cm. above this it breaks up into several branches which are 

 obscured by a sponge gi'owth. The branching beyond this is quite irregular, the effect being 

 that of a rude reticulation. The branches are all round in section, and the terminal twigs end 

 in clavate terminations. The calyces are distributed thickly and evenly on all sides of the 

 branches, and are practically contiguous throughout. 



The individual calyces are low, dome-shaped Verrucae so nearly included in the coenen- 

 chyma of the branches that it is hard to determine where the calyx wall passes into the 

 general surface. Probably 2 mm. would be an average diameter of the calyces. The calyx 

 walls are covered with imbricating plates with ctenate edges, which decrease in size toward 

 the margin ; the latter being surrounded by a roughly serrated border, the serrations being 

 inconspicuous and not attaining the prominence of the crown of thorns found in many species 

 of this family. The polyps are retractile, but the calyx mouth is left broadly open even when 

 the polyps are completely withdrawn. The tentacles, in retraction, are sunken down beneath a 



