AXCYOXARIA. 359 



? Melitee ochrace"e, De Blainville, Man. Acthwl. p. -004, pi. lxxxvi. 



fig. 3. 

 ? Mopsella retifora, Studer, .MI!. Ah. Berlin, 1878, p. GGG. 



Lamarck's species seems not to have been clearly identifier! by 

 modern writers, with, perhaps, the exception of Verrill ( Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool. Camb. i. p. 38); I. have, however, little doubt of its 

 identity with a form which occurs somewhat abundantly in this 

 collection from Port Molle, Queensland, &c. I have thought it well 

 to describe this form fully, in order to clear up the uncertainty which 

 has hitherto prevailed as to the correct name of the spe< 



It branches strictly in one plane and has elongated meshes ; the 

 stem and main branches are slight and break up almost immediately 

 into a reticulum of undulating thin branchlcts, which almost all 

 anastomose; the terminal branchlets aro only about 1 millim. in 

 diameter. The internodes arc long ; the joints are small, short, and 

 squarish. The cortex is rough, rather dull scarlet ; the zooid- 

 verruca) of the same colour ; the expanded zooids, scarlet in one 

 specimen, yellow in another, are equal and small, but distinctly pro- 

 minent, abundant over the front and sides of the branches. xVxis 

 of joints firm, bright red, that of basal internodes longitudinally 

 channelled, deep red; of distal internodes faintly striated, but ot 

 the same tint, and penetrated by the longitudinal canals. 



Spicules of general cortex: — (i.) Fusiform, sharply pointed at both 

 ends, as a rule, and covered with irregularly scattered tubercles, 

 which are large and blunt at the middle of the spicule, minute 

 at the ends ; dimensions '18 by "035 millim. (ii.) " Blattkeulen," 

 large, either with long cylindrical shaft, strongly tuberculate, with 

 large compound tubercles and two " leaves " which are broad, 

 rounded, the edges divided into blunt teeth, or with the shaft more 

 or less aborted ; dimensions of spicule "21 by -105 millim., length of 

 cylindrical shaft alone about *1 millim. Spicules of verruca? : — (iii.) 

 Longitudinal, curved, fusiform, tapering gracefully to sharp points, 

 with rather few tubercles, prominent and sharp at middle, disap- 

 pearing towards ends ; dimensions *24 by "035 millim. (iv.) Hori- 

 zontal, very regularly fusiform, curved, pointed rather bluntly, 

 covered with very closely set, low, blunt tubercles ; dimensions "28 

 by - 041 millim. 



Hal. Port Curtis, 5-7 fms. ; Port Molle, 12-20 fms. ; Thursday 

 Island and Prince of "Wales Channel, Torres Straits, 4-7 fms. Also, 

 perhaps, Dirk Hartog Island, "W. Australia, and jS t .W. Australia 

 (Stnder). 



This is a delicate and graceful species ; it is represented in this 

 collection by two nearly perfect specimens and a number of fragments 

 in the dry state, and by a specimen and fragments in spirit. The 

 largest specimen measures 193 millim. (nearly 8 inches) in height, 

 by 146 millim. (6 inches) in maximum breadth; the thickness of 

 the base is — joints (J millim., internodes 4 millim. Lamarck's and 

 Lamouroux's descriptions suit the species very well, and the remark 

 of the latter to the effect that it is " peu rameuse ; se divisant subite- 

 ment en ramuscules tres-menus, filiformes,verruqucux, anastomoses," 



