64 



They are all covered by very rough warty protuberances. 

 Locality : Station 333 ; 6 31' N., 79 38' 45" E. ; 401 fathoms. 



Anthogorgia verrilli, n. sp. 



A complete whitish colony, 140 mm. high and 30 mm. broad, attached by a 

 flat expansion to a small fragment of rock. 



A slightly sinuous main stem gives off branches irregularly in one plane. 

 The first branch arises at a distance of 70 mm. from the base, and a 

 second alternating with it 5 mm. higher. For 30 mm. the stem is bare, and 

 then come four branches, irregularly disposed, two on each side. After another 

 15 mm. of bare stem there are other two alternate branches. The branches 

 arise at angles varying from 30-90. Some of the primary branches bear 

 secondaries. 



The axis is brown at the base, golden yellow in the branches. Its texture 

 is very soft. 



The verrucas are few and scattered. A typical example is 2 '25 mm. high, 

 1 mm. in diameter. It consists of a cylindrical body on which the spicules are 

 irregularly disposed. The body is surmounted by an overlapping dome-like oper- 

 culum, consisting of crown and points. The crown spicules are arranged in two 

 (or three) transverse rows ; the sharp points consist of eight pairs of spicules whicli 

 converge so as to enclose very small apical angles, sometimes with a smaller spicule 

 between them. 



The polyps are completely retractile within the verrucse, the tentacles being 

 infolded. On the aboral surface of the tentacles the spicules are arranged in two 

 converging longitudinal rows. 



The ccenenchyma is fairly thick, witli large transparent spicules irregularly 

 arranged, and in some cases visible to the naked eye. 



The spicules are straight or curved spindles densely covered with warts, blunt 

 or tapering at the ends. The following measurements were taken of length and 

 breadth in millimetres : 



Cosnenchyma spicules, 1 '8x0 '175 ; I'5x0'2; I'3x0'15. 

 Tentacle spicules, 0-2x0-02 ; O'l75x0'015; 0'15x0'02. 



Verrill's diagnosis of the genus Anthogorgia, so far as it is known to us, is 

 somewhat vague. It reads as follows : 



" Colony branched with slender elongated branches : polyp calyces strongly 

 projected, of a tubular form, with an eight-rayed operculum consisting of a thin 

 ectoderm in whicli long spindles are embedded at various angles. Coenenchyma 

 thin, with large warty spindles." 



As it seems possible to include our specimen in the genus Anthogorgia we 

 have done so, rather than add to the already long list. 



