146 Natural History Bulletin. 



The Musctdar Sysleni is also thrown out of symmetry by 

 the upward bend of the caHcle and polyp. The ventral retrac- 

 tor muscles are of course, longer than the dorsal. The 

 retractors are all fairly well developed although the polyps 

 are not strictly retractile. The tentacular muscles are not 

 easy to make out owing to the incrusting layer of spicules on 

 the tentacles. They seem to be arranged much as in Bria- 

 retim ashestimnn. 



The mesenterial filaments do not differ in any essential par- 

 ticular from those of the preceding species. 



Ova were not found in any of the specimens examined. 

 This is the only species in which ova were wanting. 



CcENEN'CHYMA of about the same thickness as th^t of the 

 preceding species, a much greater portion, however, being 

 occupied by the 



Spicules. These are of at least three distinct kinds: 



I St. Very large massive tuberculate spicules. They are 

 by far the heaviest and bulkiest which I have found. They 

 do not agree with any of those figured or described by 

 Kent,' and do not at all conform to those which he regards as 

 characteristic of the genus Eunicea.'' They are often as long 

 as the longest spicules of the preceding species and much 

 thicker, their bulk being many times greater than that of any 

 others studied by me. They are covered with a dense mass of 

 tubercles of various shapes which grade sometimes into spines. 

 They are so thick as to be practically opaque, thus differing 

 from those of other species, all of which are sufficiently thin to 

 permit the transmission of light to a considerable extent. An 

 examination of PI. IX will help the reader to understand the 

 main features of these remarkable spicules. They are always 

 colorless, appearing white when viewed by direct light. 



In the zoanlhodeme they occupy the greater part of the 

 coenenchyma and are usually placed with their long axes par- 

 allel to that of the axis cylinder. They are found between 



1 "On the Calcareous Spicula of the Gorgonaceae, etc." Wm. S. Kent. 



2 Idem. PI. XIII, and p. 86. 



