42 



8 mm. in diameter and 6 mm. long. The calcareous nodes are 6 mm. in diameter and about 



4 mm. long. All of the branches are borne on the horny nodes which varj' in length from 



5 mm. on proximal branches to 12.5 mm. on distal branchlets. The first are annular and the 

 latter triangular in outline. The calcareous nodes var}- from 4.1 mm. to 12.5 in length, the 

 latter being the distal ones. The main branches are lateral and alternate in position, but the 

 distal branchings are regularly dichotomous, the forkings being U-shaped. The ultimate twigs 

 are very slender, being but i mm. in diameter. The polyps are distributed on all sides of the 

 smaller branches and branchlets, and on three sides of the more proximal branches and parts 

 of branches. They are usually lateral on the main stem and branches. 



The individual calyces are minute, almost entirely included even when the polyps are 

 partly expanded, and about i mm. in diameter. They are rendered conspicuous by their color 

 which is a brilliant crimson while the general coenenchyma is a yellowish red or deep orange. 

 Their walls are filled with crimson spicules which look like small imbricating disks when in 

 situ. The polyps are quite heavily spiculated. There is a strong collaret often of crimson, some- 

 times of light yellow spicules, above which is a pair of spicules forming a point above each 

 tentacle base by the approximation of their distal ends. These spicules are also often crimson 

 in color. Above these points other strong spindles lie along the distal parts of the dorsal 

 surfaces of the tentacles. 



The ccenenchyma of the branches appears to be filled with rounded or disk-like imbri- 

 cating scales. 



Spicules. Those of the ccenenchyma are disk-like tuberculate forms intergrading with 

 ordinary spindles with tubercles arranged in regular whorls. Tuberculate clubs are also seen 

 in moderate numbers, but I find no spiny clubs or Blattkeulen. The spicules of the axis are 

 smooth bars and needle-like forms, resembling fragments of spun glass when viewed through 

 the microscope. Bent tuberculate spindles are found in the polyps. 



Color. The colony is orange red, in general coloration, but the distal parts lighten to 

 almost white, as if they had been partly dried or bleached. The calyces are crimson and the 

 polyps yellow or pallid. 



6. JMelitodes viodcsta, new species. (Plate VII, figs. 2, 2a\ Plate XII, fig. 2). 



Stat. 164. i°42'.5 S., I30°47'.5 E. 32 meters. Sand, small stones and shells. 



Stat. 273. Anchorage off Pulu Jedan, East coast of the Aru Islands. 13 meters. Sand and 



shells. (Type). 

 Stat. 274. 5° 28.2 S., 1 34° 5 3'. 9 E. 57 meters. Sand and shells. Stones. 



Colony strictly flabellate and moderately reticulate, 13 cm. high and with a spread of 

 7.5 cm. The main .stem grows from an expanded base which seems originally to have supported 

 two such stems. The remaining stem shows that a large branch has been broken off imme- 

 diately above the base, and above this the stem gives off alternate branches, one from each 

 node. The second free node is about 4 mm. long and the same in diameter, while the internode 

 below it is about 3 mm. in diameter and length; but the nodes and internodes blend so as to 

 make it difficult to ascertain their limits. As in other species of this genus the nodes decrease 



