66 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Mopsella textijormis. Verrill, Bull. Miis. Comp. Zool., I., 

 1864, p. 38. Id., Ridley, Report Zool. Coll. H.M.S. 

 "Alert," 1884, p. 358.^ Id., Thomson and Alac- 

 kinnon, Mem. Austr. Mus., IV., 13, 1911, p. 671, pi. 

 Ixiii., figs. 4, 5. 



Several almost complete specimens in the collection agree 

 closelj'' with the description of Mopsella textijormis (Lamarck), 

 given by Ridley. The largest specimen has a height of 

 34cm., with a width of 37em. across the branched ])ortion. 

 The diameter near the base is 2cm. The basal attachment 

 is lacking. The branching is strictly in one plane with abun- 

 dant anastomosis. The labyrinthine pattern, to which 

 Thomson and Mackinnon have directed attention, is clearly 

 shown on the weathered axis ; and there is a well-marked 

 tendency, as pointed out by Ridley, for the stem and main 

 branches to " break up almost immediately into a reticulum 

 of undulating thin branchlets, which almost all anastomose." 

 The internodes vary in length from 4 to K) mm., and the 

 nodes from 4 to 6 mm. 



The polyps are mainly confined to the anterior aspect of 

 the colony. They are disposed irregularly in slightly pro- 

 jecting verrucse. 



The spicules are exactly like those described by Ridley — 

 (1) fusiform shapes sharply pointed at both ends, and 

 covered with irregularlv scattered tubercles — 210 x •(►3omm. ; 

 •171 x-035 mm. ; •157'x-03o mm. ; (2) " Blattkeulen " with 

 orange shafts and lemon-vellow heads — •140 x052 mm.; 

 •122 X -052 mm. ; -087 x 043 mm. Very few of the " Blatt- 

 keulen " have the long shafts mentioned by Ridle}'. The 

 spicules of the verrucae are — (3) curved fusiform shaj^es 

 tapering to shai'p points, with few tubercles — 245 x •035mm.; 

 •220 x-035 mm. ; -210 x ^035 mm. ; (4) curved fusiform 

 shapes pointed rather bluntly and covered with closely set 

 blunt tubercles— -297 x -052 mm. ; 236 x -052 mm. ; ^218 x 

 •070 mm. 



Localities. — Off the coast of South Australia. 



Fifteen miles south of St. Francis Island, Great Australian 

 Bight, 30 fathoms. 



Distribution. — Australia (Lamouroux, Gray. Verrill). South 

 Seas ((i;ay). Port Curtis. 5-7 fathoms, and Port Molle, 

 Queenslaiul, 12-20 fathoms ; Thursday Island and Prince 

 of Wales Channel, ToiTes Straits, 4-7 fathoms (Ridley). Lord 

 Howe Island (Thomson and Mackinnon). 



