28 



Spicules. Practically all of the spicules are very densely tuberculated double heads 

 with the girdles very narrow and often obliterated so as to produce an oval form compactly 

 covered with very closely aggregated verruca. Spindles are very rarely seen, and these are 

 probably from the polyps. 



Color. The colony is coral red, the part of the stem which bears no calyces is dull 

 pink. The axis is light yellowish and the polyps yellow. 



This species appears to be clearly distinct from the others in the collection, and I am 

 unable to identify it with any of the described forms. The shape of the calyces, although often 

 not very reliable specific characters, seems to be quite characteristic in this case. The spicu- 

 lation of the polyps also furnishes a good character. It is probably nearest 5. gracilis ; but 

 that species seems constant is color, no red specimens having been found. 



\ 



Genus Nicella Gray. 



Nicella Gray. Catalogue Lithophytes in the British Museum, 1870, p. 40. 



Nicella Studer. Versuch eines Systemes der Alcyonarien, 1887, p. 67. 



Nicella Wright and Studer. Challenger Reports, the Alcyonaria, 2889, p. LXV. 



STUDER (1887) gives the only satisfactory definition of this genus that I have been 

 able to find. The following is a translation : 



"Stem upright, branched, with thin coenenchyma and exserted calyces which stand vertically 

 and have their ends truncated. Calyces lateral on stem and branches, leaving a median space 

 bare. The spicules form an outer layer of small double clubs and an inner layer of longer 

 cylindrical or spindle forms, thickly covered with verrucae". 



WRIGHT and STUDER (1889) give practically the same definition as the one quoted above. 



With the single change of the words "double clubs" to "double heads" the definition 

 as given by STUDER can stand as acceptible for our present purpose. 



The type of this genus appears to be Nicella dichotoma (Gray) a . But two other species 

 of the genus seem to have been described, i. e. Nicella pustulosa and N. reticulata, both by 

 THOMSON and SIMPSON. It seems, however, from the descriptions and figures, that neither of 

 these species can be regarded as belonging to this genus as defined by STUDER. 



i. Nicella coralloides new species. (Plate IX, figs. 2, 2; Plate XI, fig. i). 



Stat. 117. io'.5 N., i2256' E. 80 meters. 



Stat. 257. Duroa Strait, Kei Islands. Up to 52 meters. 



Colony flabellate in form, 1 1 cm. in height and with a spread of 9.5 cm. The base is 

 wanting, and also one large branch. The main stem is 1.8 cm. long to where it forks, and 

 one of the resultant branches is broken off. Diameter of stem about 2 mm. The main branch 



1 This species, according to WRIGHT and STUDER, was originally named Scirpcarca dichotoma Gray and afterward changed by the 

 original describer to Nicella mauritiana Gray. This proceeding would not be considered allowable under our present rules of nomenclature, 

 and therefore the species should, in my opinion, be Nicella dichotoma (Gray). 



