51 



form. There are also many spindles, some with irregular verruca?, and others with verrucce in 

 regular whorls. Bent spindles are found in the polyps. 



Color. The colony is a very dull grayish brown, like that of many s]jonges. The axis 

 is dull crimson and the polyps are colored like the coenenchyma. 



Genus Wrightella Gray. 



Wriglitella Gray. Catalogue of the Lithophytes in the British Museum, 1870, p. 31. 



Wriglitclla Ridley. Zoological collections of H. M. S. Alert, 1884, p. 580. 



Wriglitella Studer. Versuch eines Systemes der Alcyonaria, 1887, p. 32. 



Wrightella Wright and Studer. Challenger Reports, the Alcyonaria, 1889, p. XXXVI. 



Wriglitella Kükenthal. Die Gorgonidenfamilie der Melitodida;, Zoolog. Anz. Bd. XXXIII, 



1908, p. 200. 

 Wrightella Thomson and Mackinnon. Alcyonarians collected on the Percy Sladen Trust 



Expedition, Part II, 1910, p. 199. 



The earliest definition of this genus at present at hand is that of Studer (1887) which 

 is as follows : 



"Comprimirte Äste und Zweige, die vorragenden Polypenkelche vorwiegend an den 

 Seiten. In der Rinde Blattkeulen. Keine Nährkanale in der Axe". 



Wright and Studer (1889) simply give a translation of the above definition. 



Kükenthal (1908) defines the genus as indicated in the following translation: 



"Colonies flabellate. Branches flattened and arising from the nodes. No water-vascular 

 canals in the axis. In the outer cortex there are small spherical spicules which are derived 

 from foliaceous clubs. The polyps are lateral or on one surface". 



Thomson and Mackinnon (19 10) say that Wriglitella is characterized by distinctive 

 spicules: "short clubs with very broad flanges. The heads of these clubs form a compact 

 pavement in the coenenchyma, producing an almost roe-like appearance, as in species of Bebryce". 



The type species of this genus is Wrightella coccinca Gray. Other species are Wrightella 

 variabilis Thomson and Henderson, ]]". tongaensis Ktikth. and the new species in the Siboga 

 collection. 



I. Wrightella cocci)iea Gray. 



"1 Isis cocinnea Ellis and Solander. Natural History of Zoophytes, 1786, p. 107. 

 } Isis coccinea Esper. Pflanzenthiere, I, 1781, p. 280. 



Melitcea de Risso Lamouroux. Histoire Polypiers coralligenes flexibles, i8i6, p. 463. 



Melitcea coccinea Lamarck. Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertebres, 2nd ICdit., Vol. II, 

 1836, p. 473. 



Wrightella coccinea Gray. Catalogue of the Lithophytes in the British Museum, 1870, p. 32. 



Wrightella coccinnea Ridley. Zoological collections of H. M. S. "Alert", 1S84, p. 581. 



Wrightella coccinea Hickson. Alcyonaria of the Cape of Good Hope, II, 1904, p. 219. 



Wrightella coccinea Thomson and Mackinnon. Alcyonarians collected on the Percy Sladen 

 Trust Expedition, Part II, 1910, p. 200. 



Stat. 117. i°o'.5 N., i22°s6'E. 80 meters. Sand and coral. 



Colony (incomplete) flabellate and reticulate, 12.5 cm. long. Main stem, to first branch, 



