GORGONIADJS : PRIMNOA. 171 



dead when found (Corn. Faun. iii. 58). Professor Jameson says, 

 that it was found on Leith shore, by the late Mr. Mackay ; (Wern. 

 Mem. i. 561.) and Dr. Neill, who saw the specimen, asserts "that it 

 had all the aspect of being fresh and recent." (Flem. Brit. An. 511.) 

 A fact communicated by Professor Edward Forbes, seems to account 

 for this evidence of my friend Dr. Neill ; he writes me : " Mr. 

 Goodsir has a large specimen of the Flabellum veneris dredged in the 

 Forth. The fisherman who brought it, described it as being covered 

 with living flesh when taken. On examination we found that it pre- 

 sented the curious appearance of West Indian incrusting shells and 

 British mixed, and the living flesh was doubtless a British sponge, 

 which had grown round the branches in many parts. This fully ac- 

 counts for the story of its having been found fresh on the British 

 shores." 



20. PRIMNOA,* Lamouroux. 



CHARACTER. Polypidom plantlike, irregularly branched ; 

 the axis horny, becoming very hard, continuous ; polype-cells 

 protruded far beyond the crust, subpedunculated and moveable, 

 squamous, the aperture furnished with eight smaller testaceous 

 scales. 



1. P. LEPADIFERA, scales of the polype-cells subquadrangular, 

 four in the upper row ; those of the aperture elliptical, entire. 

 R. Jameson. -f- 



Resedae similis maritima, Raii Hist. PL i. 68. Gorgonia reseda, Pall. Blench. 204. 

 Gorgonia lepadifera, Lin. Syst. 1289. Bast. Opusc. Subs. ii. 130, tab. 13, fig. 1. 

 Ellis and Soland. Zooph. 84, tab. 13, fig. 1, 2. Jameson in Wern. Mem. i. 560. 

 Stew. Elem. ii. 430. Lam. An. s. Vert. 2de Edit ii. 507. Primnoa lepadifera, 

 Lamour. Corall. 223. Flem. Brit. Anim. 513. Ehrenb. Corall. 133. Blainv. 

 ActinoL 510. pi. 87, fig. 6. 



Hob. " Found on the coast of Aberdeenshire, and coasts of Shet- 

 land." Jameson. 



" This very curious animal rises usually to eighteen inches high." 

 Ellis. It is irregularly branched, the stalk and branches of the same 

 diameter, and about the thickness of a swan's quill. The axis is 

 slender, cylindrical, and horny, very hard, and solid in the lower 



* From r^ufmes an end, and aw an egg. 



t Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, never men- 

 tioned without a mark of respect from one who has had the honour of being his 

 pupil. Of this very distinguished and learned naturalist, there is a characteristic 

 portrait in " Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk," vol. i. p. 252. 



