446 Verrill, Notes on RacUata. 



ma, — J. H. Sternbergh, F. H. Bradley ; Corinto, Nicaragua, — J. A, 

 McNiel ; La Paz, — J. Pedersen. 



Var. jflavesceiis. 



Corallum agreeing in the mode of branching and in size and form of 

 branchlets and verrucie, with the typical specimens, but yellowish or 

 whitish in color. In life, " stem and polyps pure white, polyps "12 

 of an inch long, '03 in diameter, nearly transparent ; tentacles eight, 

 very short, appearing as mammillae on the edge of the disk," — F. 11. B. 



The height of a specimen from Zorritos is 8 inches ; breadth 1 1 ; 

 diameter of branchlets 'lO to '15. Another one is 12 inches high; 

 10 broad ; diameter of branchlets mostly about '12 ; length of branch- 

 lets mostly 2 to 5 inches. 



The spicula are white and agree very well with those of the typical 

 form, but the larger spindles and clubs, in the specimens examined, 

 average somewhat larger and are, perhaps, a little rougher. 



The larger spicula measure -825™"^ by -200'""^ -750 by '200. -750 by 

 •175, -725 by -125, -625 by -150, -575 by -150, '475 by -200; the clubs 

 •650 by -212, -625 by '225, '575 by ^200, -500 by ^225, -500 by -200. 



Zorritos, Peru, dredged in 3 to 5 fathoms ; and Pearl Islands, at ex- 

 treme low-water mark, — F. H. Bradley; Corinto, — J. A. McXiel. 



This species can scarcely be confounded with any other, unless with 

 the following, from which it differs in its more numerous, shorter, and 

 less slender branchlets, larger, stouter, and more incurved verrucne, and 

 especially in the character of the spicula. 



The specimen figured by Diichassaing and Michelotti* is evidently 

 t!ie young of this species. The projecting points of the spicula, rep- 

 resented in their magnified figure, should have been a suflicient indi- 

 cation of its generic affinities. 

 Muricea tenella VerrUi, sp. nov. 



Plate VI, figure 12. Plate VIII, figure 14. 



Corallum whitish, dichotomous, with long and very slender branch- 

 lets, and prominent, slender, acute verrucoe, covered with long, slender 

 spindles. 



The typical specimens from Panama are small and slender. The 

 trunk divides within half an inch from the base into two or three nearly 

 equal branches, each of which forks again within a quarter inch. The 

 secondary branches afterwai'd subdivide at distances of "25 to "80 of 



* Although the exact date when their memoir was published is unknown to me, it 

 certainly was subsequent to the pubUcation of this species in the Bulletin of the Mus. 

 Oomp. Zool., which is sufficiently evident from the foot-note on page 7, dated " Tarin, 

 ce 17 mai, 1864." 



