^O VERETILLID^. 



44. Eophobelemnon clavatiun. 



Kophobelemnon clavatmii, Verrill, I\oc. Essex Inst. iv. 18G6, pp. 152, 



185, t. 5. f. 4. 'ftr . 



VeretiUum clavatum, Stimpson, H-oc. Philad. Acad. N. S. 18G5. 



Polypes more numerous and crowded than in K. Burgeri, Herkl., 



which it resembles ; body more claviform, naked, dorsal space very 



narrow. 



Hah. Hong-Kong, 6 fathoms, mud (TF. Sthnpson). 

 Polypes large ; the tentacles long and slender, with oblong 

 lateral lobes ; surface of the body, between the pol}-pes, irregularly 

 papillose, yariegated, punctate ^ith orange and spotted with brown ; 

 basal portion white, with a pointed extremity. Length 2 inches. 



The species is more claviform and has much more crowded polypes 

 than K. Burgeri, Herkl. The naked dorsal space is scarcely ajjparent, 

 owing to the crowding of the polypes towards it upon each side. 



Fam. 4. VERETILLID.E 

 or VERETILLOIDS. 



Coral club-shaped, with the polypes scattered on all sides, leaving 

 only a small linear dorsal area ; back granular. 



Veretilleae or Veretilloids, Gray, Ann. 8f Mag. Nat. Hist. 1860, v. 

 p. 24, 1862, X. p. 73. 



Professor Milne-Edwards, in the first volume of his ' Coralliaires,' 

 published in 1857, divides the Claviform Pennatulidoo into three 

 genera, thus : — 



1. itiuarja, with a distinct, well-developed, quadrangular central 

 stony axis. 



2. VeretiUum, with a rudimentary hard central axis. 



3. Cavemularia, without any hard central axis, but with four 

 large longitudinal central cells. 



Dr. Herklots, in his " Monograph of the Pennatulidaj," in the 

 ' Bijdragen tot die Dierkunde ' for 1858, divides them into four 

 genera, adding the genus Sarcohelemnon to the above list. The 

 species of Littiaria and Sarcohelemnon are found in the Indian and 

 Australian Oceans, and those of VeretiUum and Cavernulariu are 

 confined to the Mediterranean. The Veretillida! in the British Mu- 

 seum appear to belong to only two genera or groups, viz. : — 



1. VeretiUum. The club with a short, thick base, with four more 

 or less large longitudinal cells in the centre. 



2. Lituaria. The club with an elongated base, and with a strong 

 subquadrangular, central, more or less stony axis. 



The former group seems to be synonymous with the genera Vere- 

 tiUum and Cavernxjtlaria of Milne-Edwards and Sarcohelemnon of 

 Herklots. I call the first genus by the name VeretiUum, because I 

 find that the specimen of Penruitulu cynomorium which we have in 

 the British Museum does not appear to have any rudiment of an 



