Anatomy of Gorgonid.^. 135 



This arrangement, by which two movable lips of an ex- 

 serted calicle close over the retreating polyp, is one which 

 I have seen nowhere else among Gorgonid^. 



Polyps completely retractile. The expanded pclyps of 

 this species were not observed. The color is darker than that 

 of the zoanthodeme. 



Tentacles long with large papillcE. In retraction, the tenta- 

 cles are coiled much as in Briareiun (PL V, fig. 4). Com- 

 mencing at the base each tentacle extends upward, then curves 

 inward and downward until it reaches the oral surface of the 

 polyp, when it bends outward toward its own base and then 

 upward again, the tip being between two other portions of the 

 tentacle to which it belongs. 



The papillcC seem to be rather less numerous than in Bri- 

 areiun, and larger in proportion to the size of the tentacle 

 (PI. V, fig. 4, d, d). 



T\\& gnllet is large and much convoluted. PI. VI, fig. i, k, 

 shows the convolutions, there being six in the gullet of the 

 specimen figured. The convolutions are more numerous than 

 in any other species studied. Indeed, the gullet is larger in 

 proportion to the size of the polyp. Its histological charac- 

 ters were well defined and offered some features of interest. 



The superior histological results are probably due to the 

 fact that separate polyps were removed from the zoanthodeme 

 and embedded and cut by the celloidin method. In this case 

 also it was possible to use alum carmine for staining which 

 often yields better results' than borax carmine which was used 

 in all other cases. 



A transverse section across the gullet (PI. V, fig. 2) shows the 

 mesodermal part of the gullet in an unshaded ring, from which 

 radiate the mesenteries, demonstrating the relation of mesen- 

 teries to gullet. A longitudinal section of one of the convo- 

 lutions of the gullet is shown in PL V, fig. 3. The interior 

 or ectodermal surface resembles some of the mucous surfaces 

 of the stomach*of higher animals. The cells in this region 



I Alum carmine brings out nuclei better than boiax carmine. 



