ANTENNULARIA. 143 
It is very much disputed whether this is distinct from 
A, antennina, or only a variety of it. Ells, Pallas, Flem- 
ing, Couch, and Johnston hold that it is but a variety; 
while Ray, Lamarck and Lamouroux, Hassall and Macgilli- 
vray, and Mrs. Griffiths, “an authority,” as Dr. Johnston 
says, “always quoted with fond respect,” all agree in 
thinking them distinct species. To the latter I would add 
my humble opinion. Major Martin and I have dredged 
many fine specimens of 4. ramosa, all springing from a 
single stem of two or three inches, and then dividing into 
several branches, and all being shaggy with long branchlets ; 
and we never have got one specimen of the typical sea-deard 
clustered from the base, and not dividing into branches. 
Dr. Johnston remarks, “ Mr. Hassall was the first to say, on 
apparently better grounds, that these varieties might be 
really species. He tells us that ‘4. ramosa arises by a 
single trunk, which subsequently divides and subdivides 
into numerous branches; the branches are long, and the 
cells are not separated from each other by one or more 
small cup-like processes, as are those of 4. antennina’ 
The value of these characters has been confirmed by Mr. J. 
Macgillivray;” and Dr. Johnston adds, that the absence of 
these cells, together with the peculiar Aadit, seem to justify 
