290 lioyaJ Society : — 



of them were broken, in eonsequenco of the extreme fragility and 

 delicacy of the theca. There are no pali ; therefore 8ars's termi- 

 nology is not in accordance \rith the received system. The form 

 was familiar to me from Seguenza's drawing of a dilapidated Fla- 

 heUum (which is always found broken*) : and it is now evident that 

 UlonjatliHS must give place to FlahrJhnn. The species links Fla- 

 belhim to Desmophyllum : it is not known in the recent Mediterra- 

 nean fauna. 



LophohcVi'.t proTiffra, Palla-', sp., is apparently a common coral in 

 the uorth-westcrn British seas. 



Temperature. 



It was dredged up in Xo, 5 at a depth of 304 fathoms . . 48-8 



13 ., i^08 „ .. 49-6 



14 „ 173 „ .. 490 



15 „ 422 „ .. 47-0 

 25 „ 104 „ .. 40-5. 

 54 ,, 303 „ . . 31-5 



and also at a depth of from 350 to GOO fathoms in the cold area to 

 the north-west. 



All the specimens show great density of the calcareous skeleton ; 

 and active nutrition may be inferred to have gone on, on account of 

 the repeated gemmation, the large size of the caliccs, and the 

 numerical development of the septa. Great variability occurs in 

 the corallites forming a stem ; and the shape of the calices is very 

 diverse. 



It is very interesting to find some specimens bearing elongate 

 and more or less claviform eorallites with the peculiar gemmation 

 of Lojihohelia anthopJnjlIites, Ellis and Solander, on some portions of 

 their stem, and the usual-shaped corallites of LophoheJia prolifera 

 on others. 



A separate corallum, which must be referred to Lophohelia antho- 

 pluilUtes, Ellis and Solander, was dredged up at IN'o. 54. 



The variation of the gcmmules of several specimens is sufficiently 

 great to absorb Lophohelia suhcostata, Ed. & Ilairae ; for fragments 

 of the corallum of Lophohelia prolifera exist which possess aU its 

 so-called specific pecuharitics. 



A careful examination oi Lophohelia Defrancet, Defrancc, sp., from 

 the Messinese Pliocene and Miocene deposits, and a comparison of 

 Its structure with the numerous specimens dredged up in the 

 ' Porcupine ' Expedition, lead me to believe that it is identical with 

 Lophohelia prolifera. 



The same identity must be asserted for Lophohelia afflnis, Ponr- 

 talcs, which was dredged up in 195 fathoms olf Coflin's Patches, 

 Florida. 



Lophohelia prolifira exists in the Mediterranean Sea and the sea 

 between Scotland and Xorway. 



Lophohelia anthophyllitesis, an East-Indian form ; but its absorption 



• Scguenza, /. c. 



