SUBORDER ALCYONARIA. 593 



" Ich habc es der Giite dcs verewigten Predigers Chemnitz /.u danken, \vclchor mir ver- 

 schiedene Exemplare, die von den Usern bey Trankenbar beygebracht worden, verehret 

 hat." As the juncea of early authors is cited by them, as an East Indian species, the 

 name can, properly, be only so applied. Whether the V. juncea, of the European seas, 

 is a distinct species or not, is still uncertain. Lamarck states that the juncea, of Pallas, 

 is different from his own. His description applies quite well to the above. " V. stirpe 

 filiformi, recta, longissima ; basi vermiform!, crassiore ; pinnis rugajformibus, oblique 

 transversis, rninimis ; creberrimis rachi appressis." He adds that his specimens were 

 about a foot in length, and the base about one-fourth the whole. The pinnules were very 

 short, and half encircled the stem. The axis was attenuated at each end. (Lamarck, 2d 

 ed., ii. 648.) 



The V. aitstralis, of Lamarck, was described from a stony axis, which is represented 

 as stouter than that of the juncea, tereto-subulate and truncate. Blainville doubts if this 

 axis belonged to a Virgularia, and suggests that it might be from an Umbellularia. This 

 author alludes to a specimen brought by Reinhart from the Moluccas, agreeing with 

 Esper's figure of the juncea; and also to another, from the same source, which he de- 

 scribes as the V. aitstralis. 



The synonomy of this species may possibly be brought out of the confusion around it, 

 if we take Esper's juncea, as the true juncea, leaving the European juncea to be farther 

 determined and named anew, if distinct ; and, rejecting the australis, of Lamarck, as 

 founded on insufficient grounds, receive the australis of Blainville, which he describes as 

 follows: . 



Virgularia australis. Much more slender than the juncea of Esper ; polypiferous, 

 pinnules on the lower part, short linear; higher up, small salient masses, and towards 

 the summit becoming small wing-like appendages; section of axis quadrangular and ra- 

 diated. Blainville refers here the Pennatula juncea, of Pallas, the description of which, 

 however, applies quite well to ike juncea of Esper; " P. simplex, linearis, rachi truncata, 

 rugis distichis transversis polypiferis. Loc. Oceanus Indicus." 



The genus Funicidina, of Lamarck, was instituted for a virgate species (Pennatula 

 mirabilis, Linn.), near the Virgulariae, having, instead of pinnules, a series of simple 

 verruca?, with a stellate opening. Blainville has shown that the species described by La- 

 marck (. cylindrica), is a Gorgonia, and Ehrenberg alludes to a specimen in the Berlin 

 Museum, of which he expresses the same opinion. (Lamarck, 2d ed., 639. Desc. 

 Mus. Adolph. Fred., 96, tab. 19, fig. 4, and Ellis, Phil. Trans., liii., 1764, tab. 20, fig. 

 17; Blainville, Man. d'Actin., 515; EhrculxTg, (!. xxxiii.) The genus Scirpearia, of 

 Cuvier, was made for the Pennatula Scirpca of Pallas, and with the same essential 

 characters as the Funiculina of Lamarck. Fleming makes the P. mirabilis, of Pallas, 

 identical with the mirabiJis of Miilier and Linnaeus. (Scirpearia, Cuvier, Reg. Anim., 

 2d ed., iii., 319; Ehrenberg, G. xxxiii. Pennatula Scirpea, Pallas, Zooph., 372. 

 Pavonaria Scirpea, Blainv., Man., 516. Fleming's Brit. Anim., 507.) 



The 7-'. tetmgona, of Lamarck, is the type of the genus Pavonaria, and the F. stelli- 

 fera, is referred to Veretillum by Ehrenberg. 



149 



