92 Transactions of the Knla^^l'rWu^' 



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spicula conforming with the last type described, and also a modi- 

 fication of the same, but the lagenate type is wanting. 



In Verrucella violacea, the spicula, all of which are of a bril- 

 hant crimson, assume an enthely different form ; and on a small 

 scale they present a close resemblance to what obtains in the 

 genus Eunicea, being, though small, neatly fusiform spicula bear- 

 ing numerous transverse rows of symmetrically disposed tubercles 

 (Plate XLII., Figs. 33, 34). It seems highly probable that this 

 species may form the type of a new genus, having incorporated 

 with it the Gorgonia lilacina and sanguinolenta of Valenciennes, 

 these two species possessing spicula exactly harmonizing in contour 

 with the form just alluded to. 



The spicula of F. Jlexuosa agree with the Juncella type, to be 

 presently described. 



Gtenocella. — Polypary prolonged in the form of a straight rod, 

 having the branches disposed in a pectinate manner on one side 

 only. 



The form and disposition of the calices in the single species, 

 C. ■pedinata, and the character of the spicula, are so precisely 

 similar to what obtains in Juncella, that it must necessarily be 

 incorporated with that genus. 



Juncella. — Polypary more or less rod-hke, polyp-cells scattered. 

 The very characteristic form of spicula invariably predominant 

 in this genus is the mammillate or tuberculate dumb-bell type 

 (Plate XLII., Fig. 38). This type is constant without exception, 

 through the four species of Milne Edwards, juncea, viraen, hystrix, 

 and elongaia, Juncella surculus and caliculata of Valenciennes, 

 and Juncella flahellum of Johnson. 



The following species, which possess the same form of spicula, 

 must be associated with the foregoing. They have hitherto occu- 

 pied a different position in the system of classification adopted by 

 Milne Edwards, and have been briefly alluded to en passant in 

 the consecutive order in which they occur. These are, Priinnoa 

 mijura, Leptogorgia Boryana, BJiijjidigorgia lacuens, plagalis, 

 and umhraculwn^ Pterogorgia hetuUna, Verrucella jlexuosa, and 

 Gtenocella pedinata. 



We have now arrived at the end of that section to which I 

 proposed to confine my present observations. The representatives of 

 Milne Edwards' genera, Bliiindigorgia, Leptogorgia, and their allies 

 (and under which latter designation {Leptogorgia) I would include 

 all those Gorgonacew possessing essentially the short fusiform spicula 

 predominant in the last-named genus), require more study than I have 

 yet had leisure and opportunity to bestow upon them ; and although 

 this Leptogorgian type of spicula collates together species differing 

 most widely in the general external form of their polyparies, there 

 is nevertheless, in addition to that aflbrded by the spicula, a certain 



