34 



PENNATULIDA. 



The calyx of the polyp distinct, with 8 small papillae or wart-shaped calyx-teeth (sometimes, 

 however, they may be indistinct and seem to be wanting), often with 8 slight longitudinal ridges; the 

 wings formed of groups of 3 4, up to 6 polyps, somewhat coalesced only at the base; more frequently 

 one of the outermost polyps is quite, or almost quite, free; below each wing a series sometimes double, 

 of 3 4 lateral zooids. The wings of the two sides are, in the younger part of the rhachis, placed 

 almost opposite to each other, farther up they are distinctly alternating, with a distance of up to 2 3""" 

 between each set of wings. The dorsal radiate canals on each set of wings grouped more or less 

 distinctly in a fan-shaped manner. Spicules are quite wanting (as in V. mirabilis). The colour of the 

 living animal yellowish white. 



Of this beautiful Pennatulid the Ingolf;> has obtained four specimens at three different stations; 

 a fifth specimen (a fragment) has been taken by the Diana at the Vestman Islands. Only in one 

 specimen (Nr. 4) has the peduncle been preserved complete with its terminal bulb, in the three largest 

 (Nr.. i 3) the lower part of the peduncle is wanting, but the corresponding end of the calcareous axis 

 with its fine, bent hook is preserved; as in other Virgularise, a denuded part of the axis projects above 

 from the sarcosoma. 



In the upper part of the rhachis irregularities and variations are found with regard to the 

 wings and their number of polyps, which is probably, at least to some extent, connected with a normal 

 atrophy of the top part. At the top of the larger specimens, for instance, some of the upper wings 

 are quite wanting on one side, so that only something like a scar> is left; towards the top there 

 may be wings with two polyps or even with one, or 3- to 4-polyp wings with one or two quite small, 

 probably atrophied, polyps. As mentioned above, the polyps are provided with a distinct calyx, about 

 i""" long, with eight small soft calyx-teeth; these teeth, however, may be very indistinct or even 

 imperceptible in some individuals of the same colony; the forepart of the polyp with extended ten- 

 tacles is generally of the same length as, or a little longer than, the calyx; whether the fully developed 

 polyps are able to retract this part completely into the calyx as in V. mirabilis, I must leave undecided; 

 in the specimens before me all the fully developed polyps, at all events, are stretched out. As in 

 other Virgulariae the rudiment-region contains the sexual organs, whilst the developed polyps are 

 sterile. The longest colony I have been able to measure myself, is 105'" long (a specimen taken 

 north of Norway by the Barents-Expedition); Grieg (Norges Penn. p. 20) gives a size of even 486""" 

 (a specimen from Fotlandsvaagen north of Bergen). 



As is seen from the synonyms this form has been described before, but as constituting a separate 

 genus, or even two genera, and several species. The reason why I have given it a new specific 

 name within the genus Virgularia, and not retained its oldest specific name gracilisi> is that the 



