45 



with irregularly placed tubercles on the stouter ones. There are also a number of clubs, most 

 of which are tuberculate rather than thorny. Many of the spindles are curved. 



Color. The colony is red and yellow. The ccenenchyma is a dull yellow, owing to the 

 red axis showing through the yellow layer of spicules. The calyces are dark dull red with a 

 few superficial yellow spicules. The polyps are red and yellow. 



General distribution. The type locality of this species is Samboangan Reefs. It 

 has also been reported from the Indian Ocean by THOMSON and SIMPSON. 



2. Acabaria tenuis Kiikenthal. 



Acabaria tenuis Kiikenthal. Die Gorgonidenfamilie der Melitodidae, Zoolog. Anz. Bd. XXXIII, 

 1908, p. 195. 



Stat. 117. io'.5 N., 122 56' E. 80 meters. Sand and coral. 



Stat. 144. Anchorage north of Salomakiee (Damar) Island. 45 meters. Coral bottom and 

 Lithothamnion. 



A number of fragments were secured. The largest is flabellate and not reticulate, 

 exceedingly delicate and fragile. Height 5.8cm., spread 2.1 cm. The main stem forks 7.1 mm. 

 from its proximal end, one of the resultant branches being missing. The stem is only 18 mm. 

 in diameter. The branching is in general dichotomous. The distal branches are less than 

 .5 mm. in diameter between the calyces. The basal node of the stem is 2 mm. long, while 

 the internode below it is 5 mm. long. Some of the distal internodes are 8 mm. long. The 

 branching is dichotomous, as a rule, and the furcations are Y-shaped rather than U-shaped. 

 The calyces are lateral in position and vary greatly in size as well as in spacing. They average 

 about 1.5 mm. apart. 



The individual calyces are tubular in form and more prominent than is usual in this 

 family. A typical one measures .9 mm. in height and i mm. in diameter at the base. The 

 calyx walls are filled with spindles which are irregularly horizontal on the basal parts and 

 arranged en chevron on the distal parts, arising in 8 blunt points around the margin. The 

 polyps are retractile, but are often seen with their collarets resting just above the calyx margin. 

 The polyps are armed with yellow spicules. There is a collaret of relatively heavy spindles in 

 two or three rows, those of the upper row forming low points, each point consisting of the 

 approximated distal ends of two spicules on the tentacle base. Above these points a few other 

 spindles form a rude en chevron arrangement which is succeeded by vertically placed 

 spindles on distal parts of tentacles. 



The ccenenchyma is thin and contains spindles and spiny clubs usually disposed 

 longitudinally. 



Spicules. In this species there is a relatively large number of slender curved spindles, 

 most of which bear regular whorls of verrucse. Others bear irregularly distributed thorny points. 

 Clubs with thorny points are also found, but are much less numerous than the spindles. Besides 

 these there are a number of irregular forms, as in all species of this family ; but none are 

 sufficiently numerous to be regarded as characteristic of the species. 



