Narrative of Bahama Expedition, 177 



Among the Ilydrocoralliiia' were several very beautiful 

 forms originally described by Count Pourtales. PliobotJinis 

 symnictriciis Pourtales was dredged from a depth of one hun- 

 dred fathoms. i\gassiz says that it was found by the -• Porcu- 

 pine" north of tlie I5ritish Islands at a depth of six hundred fath- 

 oms. DisticJiopora sp. is another form which assumes a flabel- 

 late outline and is often as symmetrical as the last. Man^■ speci- 

 mens of this latter were of a beautiful deep salmon, or even 

 red, color, and still retain an exquisite tiush. Our specimens 

 have the calicles placed in furrows which run along the edges 

 of the fronds between two small ridges. The front and back 

 are ornamented by peculiar swollen nodules. i\nother spe- 

 cies, which I take to be Allopora rniniacea Pourtales, grows in 

 foliaceous masses of considerable size. There was another 

 specimen, apparently of a separate species. 



Several kinds of anemones were secured, some from con- 

 siderable depths. We were only partially successful in pre- 

 serving these beautiful, but untractable, forms. Repeated 

 attempts at narcotizing them with tobacco and alcohol met 

 with very indifferent success, and the several methods of 

 injecting with hot chemicals were no better in their results. 

 Even those that came out comparatively well had lost all the 

 glory of their brilliant colors long before they reached Iowa. 



Owing to causes alread}' referred to, we were unable to do 

 any satisfactory work in surface collecting while the vessel 

 was at sea, and this probably accounts for the almost com- 

 plete absence of medus;e and Siphonophores from our collec- 

 tion. On one occasion, however, while haulin<r in the dredire 

 from a considerable depth, we noticed a long string of pel- 

 lucid, club-shaped bodies wound around the iron dredge-rope. 

 On attempting to disentangle them from the rope we received 

 severe stings from the nematocvsts with which the creature 

 was armed. This we took to be Ptcrophysa gnvuiis Fewkes, 

 a Siphonophore which was caught in the same way by the 

 ••Blake." We estimated that the entire colony must have 

 been twenty-tive or thirty feet long. The appendages were 

 eight to twehe inches apart. In the alcoholic specimen the 



