[ iv ] 



II. On some new Alcyonaria from the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with a Discussion of 

 the Genera Spongodes, SiphoDogorgia, Chironephthya, and Solenocaulon. By Ruth 

 M. Harrison, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. (Communicated, with a Prefatory 

 Note, by Prof. G. C. Bourne, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.) 



(Plates 3-7.) 



Head fith February, 1903. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The following paper by Miss E. M. Harrison is the partial fulfilment of a piece of 

 work undertaken by me some years since and long overdue. It is necessary that I 

 should give an explanation of the circumstances under which the first collection of 

 Alcyonaria made by the Trustees of the Calcutta Museum came into my bands, and 

 why the publication of this work has been so long delayed. The Alcyonaria were sent 

 in the first instance to Mr. W. L. Sclater for identification and description : on his 

 leaving Eton College for S. Africa be found himself unable to complete bis preliminary 

 investigation of the material, and after asking several other authorities to undertake the 

 work, he eventually entrusted it to me, with the consent of the Trustees. By 1899 I 

 had made some progress in working out the Spongodida± and Siphonogorgiidse, but on 

 the outbreak of the war in S. Africa I was called away on military duties and the work 

 was laid aside. Since then the pressure of other work has prevented my resuming it, 

 and in 1907 I gave the collection together with my notes and drawings to Miss Harrison, 

 and asked her to begin the investigation afresh. This she has done in a very able 

 manner. But I was not aware, for I bad not been informed, that meanwhile the 

 Trustees of the Calcutta Museum had officially entrusted the description of the collections 

 of Alcyonaria made by them in the Bay of Bengal to Professor J. Arthur Thomson, and 

 he was equally unaware that the earliest collection was in my possession. Consequently 

 there has been a certain amount of overlapping in the work done under his direction and 

 mine on collections of Alcyonaria from the same area. My apologies are due and are 

 hereby tendered to the Trustees of the Calcutta Museum and to Professor Thomson 

 for the long delay, which has possibly introduced a confusion in the naming of certain 

 species. At the same time I have to thank Professor Thomson for prompt and kind 

 co-operation, which I hope will minimize any confusion that may possibly arise. 



It will be observed, however, that one of the five new species of Spongodes and seven 

 of tlie eight new species of Chironephthya described by Miss Harrison do not come from 

 the Indian Ocean, and do not form part of the collections of the Trustees of the Calcutta 

 Museum. — G. C. Bourne. 



Oxford, January 10, 1908. 

 SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XI. «* 



