3IADEEP0EA. 201 



Verrill states that this form is quite distinct from M. surculosa, and proposed to give it 

 the rank of a species. Until the type specimens have been compared and the differences 

 noted, I think it undesirable to change the arrangement proposed by Dana. 



Tahiti. 



Var. diffusa, Dana, Zoophytes, p. 4-16. 



Branchlets proliferous above and similar in size and form (? to those of the type), but the 

 branches are i to | in. thick, distantly coalescent, with very large spaces ; the branchlets are 

 more remote, often 1 in. apart. The type specimen is in the possession of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, and consists approximately of one-fourth of the whole colony ; it 

 is 18 in. long and 15 in. broad. {Dana.) 



Dana remarks that this variety has more the habit of M. subulata than of M. surculosa 

 but that it differs from that species in the length and character of its branchlets. 



