ALCIONABIA. 345 



clavate apex 2 milliin. Axis flexible — at base Mack, 1 millim. in 

 diameter ; near apices dark brown, filiform. Cortex compact, about 

 •3 millim. thick on branches, dirty white iu colour, finely granulated 

 by the Burface-spicules. Verrucse equally scattered over all sides 

 of the stein and branches, though absent at the lower end of the 

 stem, about '5 millim. high ; monticular, with small apical opening. 



Cortical spicules : — (i.) Eusii'orm, with moderately sharp ends, and 

 covered with large, transversely extended, rough, blunt tubercles, with 

 distinct spaces between them, irregularly scattered or sometimes 

 approaching a whorled arrangement ; size -24 by '087 millim. (ii.) 

 Cylindro-fdsiform, with less pointed ends, and covered with small, 

 low, cylindrical tubercles of approximately uniform size, except at 

 the end, where they become smaller and almost disappear ; size '38 

 by '14 millim. (iii.) Pegtop-shaped, with the broader end slightly 

 pointed itself; tuberculated in same way as (i.) ; size "28 by "14 

 millim. 



Hah. Port Darwin, 8-12 fms. ; bottom mud and sand (growing 

 on a Gorgonellid stem). 



The height of the single dry specimen is 76 millim. (3 inches), 

 the extreme width -23 millim. 



The spicules of this species have tubercles of a somewhat different 

 character from those figured by Verrill for most of his species, 

 being low and rough, like those of the fusiforms of Leptogorgia ; but 

 in general shape the spicules appear to agree with those of the 

 species on which he forms the genus. In external appearance the 

 species very closely resembles P. arbuscula, var. pallida, but is paler 

 even than that form ; the cortical spiculation of that form differs 

 from that of our species in having the spicules more acutely tuber- 

 culate, i.e. with the tubercles longer in proportion to the diameter of 

 the shaft and more pointed ; the spicules are also, as a ride, far 

 smaller all over, the largest sizes given by Verrill for either the 

 variety or the typical form being -264 millim. length and "108 millim. 

 breadth. 



GOEGONEIIACEA 



18. Juncella juncea, Pallas. 



Gorgonia juncea, Pallas, Elench. Zooph. p. 180 ; Esper, Pflanzenth. 



Fortsetz. ii. p. 26, pi. Iii. 

 Juncella juncea, Kolliker, Icon. Histiol. p. 140, pl. xviii. figs. 45, 46; 



? Valenciennes, Comptes Benchis, xli. p. 14; r 1 M.-Edw. §• Haime, 



Hist. Cor. i. p. 186 ; Gray, Cat. IAthoph. p. 25 ; Studer, MB. Ah. 



Berlin, 1878, p. 650. 



A single fine specimen of typical characters. Neither Milne- 

 Edwards and Haime nor Valenciennes give details full enough to 

 enable the student to identify their species satisfactorily with that 

 of Pallas and Esper. In the ' Alert ' specimen and that figured by 

 Esper (referred to by M. -Edwards and Haime) the verrucae are closely 



