REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA, 189 



The Nephthyidae appear to have originated in lowly organised Alcyonidse, like Belo- 

 nella. Gray, and Iphcthyrus, W. Koch, which exhibit an analogous relation of the polj^DS. 



The relationship of the genera Spongodcs and NephtJiya was first recognised by Milne- 

 Edwards {loc. cit.). He united both genera with Paralcyonium, and contrasted them, 

 under the name " Alcyoniens armes," with the " Alcyoniens nus," in which latter Alcy- 

 onium and Ammothea were comprised. 



Later on, Verrill (loc. cit.) created the family Nephthyidaj for Nephthya and 

 Spongodes, and for the new genus Eunephthya. 



Klunzinger ijoc. cit.) includes these genera, together with Ammothea, under his 

 Alcyoninw capituliferw. We owe to him at the same time well-defined generic 

 distinctions between the genera Ammothea, Nephthya, and Spongodes. 



KoUiker's subfamily Siphonogorgiacese is also to be united with the Nephthjddse, in 

 that it is connected with Spongodes and Nephthya through certain transitional forms to 

 be described later on. 



Marenzeller's * genus Gersemia must also be placed here. Koren and Danielssen in 

 their splendid monograph of the Norwegian Alcyonaria" describe several species of a new 

 genus, Diiva, while Danielssen, in the Zoology of the North Sea Expedition,^ describes 

 numerous species belonging to the following new genera — Fulla, Vosringia, Bara- 

 throhius, Gersemiopsis, and Drifa; these would fall into the first division of the 

 Nephthyidse. 



We can divide the family of the Nephthyidje as above characterised into two sub- 

 families : — 



1. Spongodins, in which the thin walls bounding the canals of the stem and branches 

 are soft and contain few or no spicules. To this subfamily belong the genera : — 



Voeringia, Danielssen. 

 Fidla, Danielssen. 

 Barathrohius, Danielssen. 

 Gersemia, Marenzeller. 

 Gersemiopsis, Danielssen. 



Drifa, Danielssen. 

 Duva, Koren and Danielssen. 

 Eunephthya, Verrill. 

 Nephthya, Savigny. 

 Spongodes, Lesson. 



2. Siphonogorgiiise, in which the divisions between the canals of the stem and 

 branches are rigid and filled with spicules, the canals themselves being relatively narrow. 

 Here belong the genera : — 



Paranephthya, n. gen. 

 Scleronephthya, n. gen. 



Chironephthya, n. gen. 

 Siphonogorgia, KoUiker. 



1 Denlischr. d. nmih.-nat. CI. k. Alcad. Wiss. IVien, Bd. xxxv., 1877; Reprint, p. 18. 



- Nye Alcyonider tilli0rende Norges Fauna, 1883. 



3 Den Norske Nordhavs-Expedition, 1876-78, xvii., Zoologi. Alcyonida, 1887. 



