53 



very profusely branched, forming a flattened clump. Height 11.2 cm., spread 12 cm. The basal 

 part is lacking, the proximal node of the stem is 9 mm. in diameter and the only remaining 

 internode is flattened and has a cross section of 8 mm. X 5 rnm. and a length of 6 mm. 

 This internode, however, appears to be really two coalesced internodes which have branched 

 from the preceding node and adhere throughout their length. As is usual the nodes decrease 

 in length while the internodes increase from the proximal to the distal parts of the colony 

 until the nodes are but 2 mm. in length while the internodes are sometimes as much as 18 mm. 

 long. The branching is irregularly dichotomous and the branches are round in section, the 

 distal twigs being but i mm. in diameter. The calyces are thickly emplanted on three sides of 

 the stem and branches, leaving the posterior face of the colony conspicuously bare. 



The individual calyces are dome-shaped verrucae when the polyps are completely 

 retracted and truncated cones when they are expanded. They are rendered very conspicuous 

 by the fact that the upper parts of their walls are rich carmine while the lower parts of the 

 walls and general ccenenchyma of the branches are orange yellow. A typical calyx is .8 mm. 

 high and 1.3 mm. in diameter. The polyps are heavily spiculated with a collaret composed of 

 three or four rows of strong tuberculate spindles above which a pair on each tentacle base 

 form a point by the meeting of their distal ends. Above these points each tentacle bears a 

 triangular area of spicules, some of which are Stachelplatten with jagged projections. All of 

 these spicules are brilliant red, in sharp contrast with the white of the tentacles themselves. 



Spicules. These are exceedingly various, the most characteristic being Blattkeulen, 

 small in size, with their folia compressed into a knob or ball resembling a closed bud. These 

 are superficial on the calyces and general ccenenchyma. Besides these there are a number of 

 ordinary spindles, clubs, bent spindles and variously branched forms, with occasional unilateral 

 spindles and Stachelplatten. 



Color. The colony is a brilliant orange with the marginal areas of the calyces, polyp 

 spicules and axis bright crimson. The polyps are white. This is one of the most strikingly 

 colored forms that I have seen among the Melitodidae. 



General distribution. The type locality of this species is Tonga Islands (KUKEXTHAL). 



f 



Genus Parisis Verrill. 



Parisis Verrill. Bulletin Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1864, p. 67. 



Parisis (in part) Gray. Catalogue of the Lithophytes in the British Museum, 1870, p. 13. 



Parisis Ridley. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 5*h series, Vol. X, 1882, p. 130. 



Parisis Studer. Versuch eines Systemes der Alcyonaria, 1887, p. 32. 



Parisis Wright and Studer. Challenger Report, the Alcyonaria, 1889, p. 181. 



Parisis Delage et Herouard. Traite de Zoologie Concrete, II, 2, 1901, p. 414. 



Parisis Kiikenthal. Die Gorgonidenfamilie der Melitodidae, Zoolog. Anz. Bd. XXXIII, 1908, p. 190.- 



The original definition for this genus is not at hand. 



RIDLEY (1882) says that Parisis differs from Trinella Gray in having spicular verrucae. 



STUDER (1887) defines the genus as shown in the following translation: 



" Branches differ from all other Melitodidae in springing from the calcareous y ints. The 



