REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIA. 



209 



skin. The same applies to the branches and twigs, only here the long, calcareous 

 s^^indles are more closely packed. 



The branches given oft" from the end of the stem are short and cylindrical, and 

 subdivide at the end, like the main stem, into three secondary branches. The secondary 

 branches finally divide into small twigs, all of equal size, bearing the polyp heads 

 united together in bundles of from ten to twenty. The polyp bundles which belong 

 to one branch are closely crowded together, and thus separate umbels are fonned. 

 Exceptionally two lateral branches occur on one branch, coming off" at right angles at a 

 short distance above its origin. 



The individual polyp heads are always surmounted by a short bundle of spicules. 

 The former, together with their peduncles, are isolated for a short distance, and some 

 individuals in a bundle are usually more completely isolated than others, above which 

 they then project. Each head is surrounded at the margin by a crown of eight 

 spicules, which can be folded together over the mouth and tentacles. 



In a quite young colony the bundles are made up of a very few polyps, three to 

 five in number. These polyps are fairly well isolated from one another ; the more 

 tightly -packed and tliickly-placed bundles originate by the development of new polyps 

 between the old polyps. The original parent polyps, however, stdl retain a certain 

 degree of isolation. 



The collar consists of a number of flat folds, disposed around the stem in a circle ; 

 the margins of these folds are covered with polyps arranged in rows. Five of these 

 projecting, half-moon-shaped or lobose folds, separated by varying interspaces, constitute 

 the collar-like ring on the stem of the larger colony. In a young specimen there are 

 five separate groups of long polyps arranged in rows. These polyps are separate from 

 one another almost down to the stem, while in the older colony they are, in part, 

 united together up to the head, and are also not always confined to a single row, but 

 sometimes occur in two or three rows above one another. The form of these polyps is 

 the same as those of the branches, only the projecting bundle of spicules is in them still 

 less developed. 



(ZOOL. CHALL, EXP.— PART LXIV. 1888.) 



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