260 A, E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands; Coral Reefs. 
generally bright red, varying from pale red to carmine and dark red 
and brick-red in different specimens. Color-varieties occur with the 
body orange, ocher-yellow, salmon, pale yellow, gray, or even white; 
and with corresponding variations in the color of the tentacles, 
which are rarely entirely purple, pink, or salmon. Sometimes the 
tentacles are iridescent. They can contract much in size, but are 
incapable of retraction. The basal disk is generally dark red. The 
surface of the column toward the summit has rows of more or less 
numerous small, inconspicuous, adhesive suckers, capable of con- 
tracting so as to be invisible. They are often deeper red than the 
ground color and surrounded by a whitish ring, or white specks. 
The upper part of the column is often fluted, due to the swelling of 
the intermesenterial spaces; in such cases the swellings are often 
translucent with red pigment specks. 
The disk is similar to the tentacles, but often has white or red 
radial lines or streaks; or it may be entirely red. Lips usually red 
or pink ; gonidial grooves pink with white borders. 
A very strongly marked color variety was found by A. H. Verrill, - 
in 1901, living between the rocks of the abutment at Mangrove 
Creek. The body was light pink, spotted with crimson, but the 
tentacles, which were 10 inches long and .75 of an inch in diameter 
when fully distended, were bright pea-green, with sky-blue tips, 
which were often swollen. 
A variety was found at Bailey Bay, in shallow water, in which 
the column was lemon-color or light orange ; margin and tentacles 
grayish, the Jatter vermiculated with darker brown lines; tips 
whitish, no purple. 
In life, there are short rows of small and rather inconspicuous 
suckers or verrucz on the upper part of the column, but they are 
usually indistinct on preserved specimens. 
The anatomy was described to some extent by McMurrich, 1889, 
The sphincter muscle is diffuse and feebly developed. All the 
mesenteries, except the directives, are fertile, but those of the last 
cycle were incomplete in his specimens, which were not full grown. 
This species is also found in the Bahamas and throughout the 
West Indies. : 
There can be no reasonable doubt that this is the species named 
gigantea by Dr. Weinland in 1860. Although his note (op. cit., p. 
38) and his figure of the young have been known to me for many 
years, and have been considered by me as pertaining to this species, 
I had, in view of that scanty description, hesitated to definitely 
