35 2 COELENTERATA — ANTHOZOA chap. 



Fam. 4. Coralliidae. — The axis is formed by the fusion of 

 spicules into a dense, solid, inflexible, calcareous core. 



Corallium, Lamarck. Corallium nolnle, Pallas, the " precious 

 coral," occurs in the Mediterranean, chiefly off the coast of North 

 Africa, but also on the coasts of Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and* it 

 extends to the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. C. 

 japonicmn, Kisliinouye, called Akasango by the fishermen, occurs 

 ott' the coast of Japan, and C. reginae, Hickson, has recently been 

 described from deep water otf the coast of Timor.-' The genus 

 ■ Pleurocorallium, Gray, is regarded by some authors' as distinct, 

 but the characters that are supposed to distinguish it, namely, 

 the presence of peculiar " opera-glass-shaped spicules," and the 

 occurrence of the verrucae on one side of the branches only, are 

 not very satisfactory. The following species are therefore placed 

 by Kishinouye '^ in the genus Corallium : — C. elatius, Eidley 

 (Momoirosango) ; C. konojoi, Kishinouye (Shirosango) ; C. hoshn- 

 ensis, K. ; C. sulcatum, K. ; C. inutile, K. ; and G. pusillum, K., — 

 •all from the coast of Japan. Of the coral obtained from these 

 species, the best kinds of Momoirosango vary in price from £30 

 per pound downwards according to the quality. The Shirosango 

 is the least valual)le of the kinds that are brought into the 

 market, and is rarely exported.^ Three species of Corallium 

 (Pleurocorallium) have been described from Madeira,^ and one 

 of these, G. johnsoni, has recently been found in 388 fathoms off 

 the coast of Ireland.'^ Other species are C. stylasteroides, from 

 Mauritius ; G. confusum, Morotf,'' from Sagami Bay in Japan ; and 

 an undescribed species obtained by the " Siboga," off Djilolo. 

 These corals range from shallow water to depths of 300-500 

 fathoms. Pleurocoralloidcs, Moroff, differs from the others in 

 having very prominent verrucae and in the character of the 

 large spindle-shaped and scale-like spicules. It was found in 

 Sagami Bay, Japan. Specimens attributed to the genus Pleuro- 

 coralliiim have been found fossil in the white chalk of France, 

 but Corallium has been found only in the tertiaries." 



^ Hickson, K. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 1905. 



"^ Journ. Imp. Fish. Bureau, Tokyo, xiv. 1, 1904. 



^ Kitahara, Journ. Imp. Fish. Bureau, Tokyo, xiii. 3, 1904. 



* Jolinson, Proc. Zool. Sac. 1899, p. 57. 



^ Hickson, Nature, Ixxiii. 1905, p. 5. 



6 Moroff, Zool. Jahrh. Syst. xvii. 1902, p. 404. 



' Ridley, Proc. Zool. Sac. 1882, p. 231. 



