( 268 ) 



of' high frequency. So strings 10, 13 and J 4 reproduced with feeble 

 tension and slow deflection the sound waxes of a tuning fork of 

 2380 whole vibrations per second. Tlie recorded period was about 

 24 times shorter than the proper period of the cpiartz thread. If the 

 same ratio of periods holds for string 20, this latter must be able 

 to reproduce with ease tones of 77000 whole vibrations per second. 

 On a following occasion I hope to return to the recording of sounds. 

 Also a discussion of the practical execntion of some of the experi- 

 ments described above and a description of different designs of the 

 string galvanometer will have to be postponed to a following paper. 



Zoology. — ''On a luio species of CoralUvm from Timor.'' Bj 

 Sydney J. Hickson, Professor of Zoology in the Victoria 

 University of Manchester. (Communicated by Prof. Max Wp:ber). 



The species of corals included in the family Coralliidae have been 

 arranged by systematists in the four genera, Corallium, Pleurocoral- 

 lium, HemicoraUium and PIeitrocoraIIoi(/es. 



The genus HemicoraUium of Gray was merged with Pleurocorallium 

 by Ridley in 1882, and quite recently Kishinouye has called attention 

 to the difficnlty there is in maintaining the distinction between Pleu- 

 rocorallium and Corallium. 



One of the principal chai-acters of PleurocoraUium is the presence 

 in the coenenchym of peculiar twinned spicules which Ridley calls 

 "opera-glass" shaped spicules. These "opera-glass" shaped spicules 

 are not supposed to occur in the genus Corallium. Whether future 

 investigations will support the A'iew of Kishinouye or not is a 

 question wdiich need not be considered here, but the absence of 

 "opera-glass" shaped spicules in the specimen about to be described 

 justifies its position in the genus Corallium, that is, to the genus that 

 includes Corallium. nobile the precious coral of the Mediterranean 

 sea and the seas of the Cape Verde islands and Corallium japonicum 

 one of the precious corals of the Japanese seas. 



Before proceeding to a description of the new species a few words 

 may be written concerning the geographical distribution of the 

 family. Corallium nobile occurs in the Mediterranean sea and off the 

 Cape Verde islands. Some species attributed to the genus Pleuroco- 

 rallium occur off the island Madeira, and quite recently a specimen 

 of Pseudocorallium johnsoni has been dredged off the coast of Ireland. 



