110 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
most conspicuous and graceful is Gorgonia acerosa which is a 
huge plume-like form, sometimes attaining a height of eight or 
ten feet. It consists of a main stem with many slender and 
very flexible branches arranged in a pinnate manner. Certain 
areas of bottom at a depth of three to ten fathoms are almost 
covered with these large graceful plumes waving in the cur- 
rent. They are pinkish purple in life, but the dried speci- 
mens are light buffy, sometimes almost white. The very widely 
distributed Plexaurella dichotoma is abundant here as_ else- 
where in the West Indies. It has large round branches holding 
themselves erect and rigid like candelabra. The calyces are in- 
serted and in dried specimens are represented by round or 
slit-like holes scattered over the entire surface of the ccenen- 
ehyma, which is thick and cork-like around the axis cylinder. 
Of course the ubiquitous ‘‘sea-fan’’ is found here and is a 
favorite specimen with most tourists. It is the Rhipidogorgia 
flabellum of authors, and is really a very beautiful object with 
its fan-shaped reticulations of branches. The specimens from 
Barbados are mostly purple in color, the yellow variety being 
absent or at least rare. I am inclined to believe that the purple 
and yellow forms represent different species. A large number 
of species of the ordinary reef forms of gorgonians were col- 
lected here, but need not be enumerated. One, however, should 
be mentioned, as it appears to be new. It is a Briareum, havy-. 
ing an axis cylinder composed of an agglutination of spicules. 
It differs, however, from the common B. asbestinum of the 
Bahamas in having the branches much more slender than in 
that species and is also a deeper purple in color. 
The family Aleyonide seems to be unrepresented in our col- 
lection from Barbados, but the closely allied Nephthyide is 
represented by the genera Dendronephthya and Spongodes. At 
Station 49, depth 80 fathoms, was secured a colony of Acantho- 
gorgia, or at least a portion eleven centimeters high. The 
branches and ecalyces are alternating; the latter being distant, 
columnar in form, standing out stiffly from the branch. The 
calyx walls are heavily armed with large spindle-shaped spicules 
arranged en chevron and terminating in a bristling mass of 
thorny points above the operculum. A species of this genus 
was described by Professor Verrill from specimens secured off 
