14 2 Natural History Bulletin. 



The investing endothelium can be plainly seen under the dis- 

 secting microscope. The exact relation of the tip of the axis 

 to the adjacent polyps was not discovered. 



Taken all in all, this species seems to me to be the highest 

 in rank of those studied, although I have not indicated this 

 in the position given it in this paper. The exserted calicles, 

 mobile calicular lips, well defined cortical layers of spicules, 

 size and complexit}' of gullet, specialization of muscular 

 system, and perfection of water-vascular system, all point 

 to this conclusion. It may be that still greater signifi- 

 cance should be attached to the fact that in this species alone 

 have I been able to find the peculiar cells which I regard as 

 ganglion cells. 



EUNICEA TOURNEFORTI i M. E. 



ZoANTHODEME branching, the branches having a strong 

 tendency to occupy the same plane. This species does not 

 seem to attain a very great height, at least I have never 

 seen a specimen over twelve or fifteen inches high. The 

 branches are spreading at the base curving outward from a 

 common trunk which bears the stolon, then shooting straight 

 upward parallel to each other and, as has been indicated, all 

 in nearly the same plane. The branches never anastomose, 

 nor do they seem to have a tendency to divide indefinitely as 

 is the case in Miiricea, 



There is a rigidity about the branches that is in marked 

 contrast to those heretofore considered, with the exception, per- 



1 Identified from memory by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes. It agrees perfectly 

 with the description of this species in M. Edward's "Histoire Naturelle des 

 Coralliaires." It seems to me however that it differs so widely from E. muricata 

 that it should be placed in a separate Genus. Among the most prominent dif- 

 ferences are the following: E. muricata has retractile polyps with radial 

 symmetry ; tentacles without spicules, spicules of two distinct types — compara- 

 tively slender tuberculate and echinato-clavate; E. tournefortih&s non retractile 

 bilaterally symmetrical polyps, tentacles armed with spicules, spicules of three 

 distinct types — the largest being remarkably massive tuberculate and the small- 

 est a cortical layer of spicules without any constant form whatever. These 

 differences appear to be greater than those commonly recognized as specific 

 characters, and therefore of generic rank. 



