Verrill, JVotes on JRadiata. 433 



standing at an angle of abont 45° on the npper pai't of tlie brandies 

 and at a greater angle below, their surface covered with short, thick, 

 rather obtuse spindles, with their sides elevated and very consj^icuous 

 at tlie sui-face, but the ends not projecting. The lower lip of the ver- 

 ruca^ is rather ol)tuse and not much prolonged. l"he ca'nenchyma is 

 thick, covered with stout, irregular, blunt spicula, some of them con- 

 siderably larger than those of the verrucae. Color deep purplish 

 brown. 



Height 3 inches ; breadth 2"5 ; diameter of branches '30 ; length of 

 verrucae -08 to -12 ; breadth -06 to -08. 



The spicula are mostly deep red or purple, vai-ying toward yellow- 

 ish, and consist mostly of short, stout, usually irregular, blunt spin- 

 dles, or oblong spiciila, three or four times as long as broad ; and very 

 short and thick, irregular, massive spicula, often more than half as 

 broad as long. The longer spicula are partly stout, blunt spindles, of- 

 ten irregular or bent, and closely covered with rough warts, with stout 

 conical spinules on one side; these come mostly from the verruca*. 

 Others, coming from the coenenchyma, are oblong or irregularly 

 formed, one end often dilated, frequently truncate. The stouter spicula 

 are very massive and irregular, usually oblong, and truncate at both 

 ends, often with one end dilated, fx'equently lobed, crowdedly warted, 

 except on the spinulose sides. Others are irregularly triangular and 

 flattened, one edge spinulose, the sides warted. All the stouter irreg- 

 ular spicula appear to come from the coenenchyma. The smaller spin- 

 dles from the verrucae are pretty regular, stout fusiform, or even some- 

 what oval in outline, the ends not very acute. 



The longer spicula measure 1-47""" by -500""", 1'40 by -350, 1-27 by 

 •450, I-IO by -300, 1'05 by '325, I'OO by -300, -925 by -250, '900 by 

 •225, -875 by -325 ; the stouter ones 1-20 by -550, 1-02 by -600, 1-02 by 

 •500, 1-00 by -550, I'OO by -475, -950 by "500, -925 by ^450, -750 by 

 •525, -TOO by -450, -625 by ^425 ; the triangular flattened ones I'lS by 

 •575, -775 by ^400, "625 by '375; heads -275 by '275 ; the small oval 

 spindles ^750 by •SOO, ^625 by ^225, •GOG by ^225, -475 by •225, -450 by 

 •250, ^450 by '175, '250 by •150. 



Pearl Islands, attached to the base of a large specimen of M. frvti- 

 cosa, from 6 to 8 fathoms, — F. H. Bradley. 



This species is closely allied to M. austera. Its spicula are still 

 shorter, thicker, and more irregular, approaching, in this resi)ect, those 

 of 3r. crassa, thoug;h much smaller. Tlie veri-uca are also larger than 

 those of 31. anstera and less rough. The peculiar rich color will prolia- 

 bly prove to be a good specific character, since the color in the species 



