162 PBECT SLADEN TKUST EXPEDITION. 



height by 8 cm. in maximum breadth, and consists of a main stem with lateral branches 

 which are again repeatedly branched. Por the most pai't the branching is in one plane, 

 but this is not rigorously adhered to. On the main stem of one of the larger specimens 

 there is a curious gall-like swelling from which branches arise on all sides. 



The stem is 4 mm. in thickness at its base and gradually tapers to 2 mm. at the ends 

 of the branches. The axis is light brown in colour and very calcareous. On the 

 surface of the general ccenenchyma and on the verrucse there are irregular wavy longi- 

 tudinal ridges, producing a characteristic bark-like appearance. Under the low-power 

 microscope the texture seems finely arenaceous. 



The verrucEe are very prominent, rising more or less perpendicularly to a height of 

 about 2 mm. They occur on all sides of tlie stem, but in the upper parts of the branches 

 a bilateral arrangement is well defined. At the apex of the verrucse there is an indi- 

 cation of eight lobes, from amidst which the tentacles here and there project. 



Another specimen, the basal part of a large colony, branches in a somewhat irregular 

 fashion and not rigidly in one plane. The verrucse are much less bilateral, especially 

 near the base of the colony. Examination of the spicules shows that this may be referred 

 to N. cUchotoma. 



Locality. Salomon, 65 fms. ; Salomon, 60-120 fms. 



Previously recorded from Mauritius. 



Genus JUNCELLA. 



45. Juncella gemmacea (Valenciennes). 



Por description see : — 



Thomson and Henderson : Ceylon Pearl Oyster Report, No. xx. 1903, pp. 313-314, pi. 4. figs. 4 & 5. 

 Milne-Edwards and Haime : Histoire naturelle des Coralliaires, i. 1857, p. 185, pi. B2. fig. 7. 

 Hickson, S. J. : The Alcyonaria of the Maldives, pt. iii. (in Fauna and Geogr. of Maldive and 

 Laccadive Archipelagoes, ii. pt. iv.), 1903, p. 819. 



A broken and apparently unbranched colony, probably 65 cm. in length, 7 mm. in 

 diameter at the base, 2 mm. at the top, of a creamy-wliite colour. The coenenchyma is 

 covered with crowded verrueae curved inwards and upwards, on an average about 2'5 mm. 

 in length. The axis is greenish-brown in colour, and has a diameter of about 2*5 mm. at 

 the base ; at this region the coenenchyma is about 2 mm. in thickness. The inner 

 layers of the coenenchyma have a rusty-red colour. The spindles are of the usual types, 

 colourless and yellow clubs and double clubs. The typical Juncella gemmacea is red, and 

 this form approaclies that colour in its inner layers. 



Locality. Amirante, 32 fms. 



Previously recorded from the Red Sea, Australia, Burmah, Singapore, Ceylon 

 seas. 



