Speci)nfn.<i 0/ Ceplialodiscus nigrescens. o;)! 



The description of tliis species has not yet been published, 

 but a report upon it is in preparation. 



In May of the present year, when examining^ some speci- 

 mens of Cephalodiscus dredged on the Swedish Antarctic 

 Expedition and received by the British Museum (Natural 

 History) from Stockholm in exchange for other specimens, 

 Mr. R. Kirkpatrick alluded to the fact that among the 

 Pterobrancliia in his charge were three bottles of a kind of 

 Cephalodiscus, apparently part of the collection of material 

 obtained on the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' Expedition in the 

 Antarctic Ocean in the years 1839-1843. Tiic specimens 

 M'cre shown to Dr. S. F. Harmer, the Keeper of the Depart- 

 ment of Zoology in the Museum, who recognized them as 

 similar to tliose of Cephalodiscus nigrescens dredged by the 

 ' Discovery' in the Antarctic Ocean, and submitted them to 

 me for examination and report. I am plea-ed to be able to 

 confirm Dr. Harmer's identification of ihe specimens as 

 C. nigrescens, and I take this opportunity of thanking him 

 for allowing me to publish the present note. 



For convenience of reference the specimens may be 

 distinguished as A, B, and C. 



Specimen A (see figure, p. 552) is a dark brown piece of 

 colony with four branches. Greatest measurements 68 by 

 39 mm. ; longest branch 42 mm. long and 11 mm. wide; 

 second longest branch 21 mm. long and 10 mm. Avide ; 

 the otiier two branches are short. The piece is in good 

 condition, with the projecting peristomial tubes and lips 

 intact. The zooids are numerous, blackish, in fair state of 

 l)reservation, each with three or four buds. The size of the 

 body and the proportions of the buccal shield are the 

 same as those recorded in the description of C. nigrescens in 

 the 'Discovery' Expedition Report (7, p. 28). 



Specimen B is of a paler colour than A : it is evidently a 

 young colony, consisting of but one branch ; the attached 

 base contains included stones and shells ; size 33 mm. by 

 22 mm. ; preservation good ; zooids plentiful. 



Specimen C consists of two pieces of colony, very pale iu 

 colour, in poor condition, with no brandies remaming and 

 ■with the peristoraial tubes broken off. Both pieces are 

 massive in character. The larger measures 64 by 41 mm. ; 

 stumps of three branehes are recognizable; sandy particles 

 are embedded in the basal end of it. The smaller piece 

 measures 58 by 40 mm. Both pieces appear to have been 



