174 ANTHOZOA ASTEROIDA. 



The Isis HIPPURIS, Lin. (Ellis and Soland. Zooph. 105, tab. 3, 

 fig. 1-5.) is < said by the late Dr. Walker, to occur on the east coast 

 of Scotland, and also in the Orkney Islands," Jameson in Wern. 

 Mem. i. 560. No description of a British specimen has been pub- 

 lished. 



The Isis ENTROCHUS of Turton (Brit. Faun. 206.) is a fossil species 

 of Pentacrinus. 



FAMILY ALCYONID^E. 



Lea ALCYONS, Cuv. Reg. Anira. iii. 320. POLYPI TUBIPERI, lam. An. s. Vert. ii. 

 403. ALCYONARIA, Blainv. Man. 519. LOBULARIAD.E, Johnston in Trans. 

 Berw. Nat. Club, i. 107. J. E. Gray in Syn. Brit. Mus. 135. HALCYONINA, 

 Ehrenb. Corall. 56. 



21. ALCYONIUM,*" Linnaeus. 



CHARACTER. Polype-mass lobed or incrusting, spongious, the 

 skin coriaceous, marked with stellated pores ; interior gelatinous, 

 netted with tubular fibres and perforated with longitudinal 

 canals terminating in the polype- cells, which are subcutaneous 

 and scattered. Polypes exsertile. 



1. A. DIGIT ATUM, polymorphous, greyish-white or orange- 

 coloured, the skin somewhat wrinkled, studded over with stel- 

 lated pores even with the surface. Dillenius. 



PLATE XXXIV. 



Alcyonium ramosa-digitatum molle, astericis undiquaque omatum. Rail Syn. 31, no. 

 2. Breynius in Ephemerid. Acad. Leopold, cent. 8, app. 159. Bast. Opus. Sub. i. 



* From Alcyon the King's-fisher : the word itself signifies " sea-foam" of which 

 the Halcyons were supposed to make their nests. See Lib. Entert. Knowl. " The 

 Architecture of Birds ;" p. 45, &c. 



" And every thing dispos'd it to my rest, 



As on the seas when th' Halcyon builds her nest. 

 When those rough waves, which late with fury rush'd, 

 Slide smoothly on, and suddenly are hush'd ; 

 Nor Neptune lets his surges out so long, 

 As nature is in bringing forth her young." 



Drayton's Heroical Epistles. 



To the reasons adduced by Milne-Edwards for retaining the name Alcyonium to 

 this group, I would add that Lobularia is inadmissible, having been pre-occupied bv 

 the botanists. The Alcyonium of Lamarck is composed of certain sponges, of which 

 the true character remains unknown. 



