SUBORDER ALCYONARIA. 



643 



1 BRIA.REUM GORGONIDEUM. (Blainvilk.) 



B. cinereum ; subramosum, teres ; ramisfere 1" crassis, elongatis ; axe 

 spiculis cakareis purpureis plerumque instructo. 



Cinereous, subramose, terete; branches nearly an inch thick, elongate ; 

 axis consisting mostly of purple calcareous spicula. 



West Indies. Ellis. 



Gorgonia briareus, Ellis and Sol., 93, pi. Meth., 35, pi. 14, figs. 1, 2; Encyc., 



14, figs. 1, 2. 447. 

 , Gmel., Syst. Nat., 3808. Briareum gorgonoidium , Blainville, Man., 



, Lamouroux, Pol. flex., 481; Exp. 521, pi. 88, fig. 2. 



2. BRIAREUM SUBEROSUM. (Ellis.} Dana. 



B. 8" ahum ; ramosum, subdichotomum ; ramis crassis subsimplicibus, 

 superfaie levi, osculis substellatis ; axe suberoso, pallide rubro ; cortice 

 intus miniaced. 



Eight inches high; ramose, subdichotomous ; branches stout, sub- 

 simple ; surface smooth ; oscules substellate ; axis suberose, pale 

 red ; cortex miniaceous within. 



Indian Ocean. 



Ellis, Corallines, tab. 26, figs. P, Q, R. 



Gorgonia suberosa, Ellis and Sol., 93, tab. 

 14, figs. I, 2. 



, Lamarck, 2d ed., ii. 504, No. 39 a. 



Plfxaura suberosa, Lamouroux, Pol. flex., 

 430 ; Encyc., 628. 

 , Blainville, Man., 509, pi. 87, fig. 5. 



The Gorgonia suberosa of Espcr (ii., tab. 

 xxx.), has a solid corneous axis, and is 

 another species ; see G. papittosa. 



Ehrcnberg makes the Alcyonium asbesti- 

 num of Pallas, identical with the Gorgo- 

 nia suberosa of Ellis, and states that 



the branches are half to one inch thick ; 

 in Ellis's figure of this species they 

 are from one and a half to four lines. 

 (Pallas, Zooph., 344 ; Esper, iii., tab. 5; 

 Lamarck, 2d ed., 605 : " A. carnosum, 

 rigidum, rubrum, digitato-ramosum ; ra- 

 mis teretiusculis, erectis; osculis creber- 

 rimis, sparsis." Lamouroux, Pol. flex., 

 347 ; Lobularia asbestina, Ehrenb., Gen. 

 xxv., sp. 12.) Dried specimens have 

 the surface harsh with the spicula of 

 which they are principally constituted. 



