ALCYONARIA : GORGONID^. 521 



GORGONIDJE, OR SEA-FAN FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises those which are usually much branched, and have 

 a tendency to spread in a plane, forming a flattened or 

 fan-shaped, and often reticulated frond ; axis horn-like. 

 Fig. 511. 



The Genus Gorgonia has the corallum much branched, 

 the branchlets slender, and the cells prominent and ar- 

 ranged in two or more rows on the edges of the branches. 



G. humilis, Dana, is found on the coast of South Caro- 

 lina attached to stones and shells, and is four or five inches 

 high ; color reddish brown. 



The Genus Leptogorgia has the corallum branching, 

 the branches slender, and with .a space on each side 

 destitute of cells. 



L. virgulata, Milne-Edw., is slender, fasciculate, and 

 the color variable, but frequently lemon or reddish pur- 

 ple. It is abundant a few feet below low-water mark, 

 from North Carolina to Florida. 



L. tenuis, Verrill, of Long Island Sound, is closely al- 

 lied to the preceding. 



PLEXAURID.E. This Family has the corallum branch- 

 ing, arborescent, with a horn-like axis, often calcareous 

 at the base, and the cells arranged equally on all sides of 

 the branches. 



The Genus Muricea has the axis horn-like in the branch- 

 es, often very solid at the base ; cells prominent, spiculose. 



M. pendula, Verrill, of the coast of South Carolina, has 

 the trunk large, erect, and giving off, pinnately, numerous 

 irregular branches, many of which are also irregularly 

 pinnate. It is about two feet high, and the trunk three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. 



PRIMNOID^:. This Family is represented on the coast 

 of the United States by the Genus Primnoa, which con- 

 tains P. Reseda, Verrill, found at St. George's Bank and 

 in the Bay of Fundy. The axis is calcareous, and the 

 cells bell-shaped. Fig. 513 shows P. myura, M.-Edw. 



