THE STOLONIFERA AND ALCYONACEA COLLECTED BY 

 DR WILLEY IN NEW BRITAIN, ETC. 



By SYDNEY J. HICKSON, F.RS., 



Beyer Professor of Zoology in the Owens College, 



AND ISA L. HILES, B.Sc, 

 Owens College. 



With Plates L. and LI. 



STOLONIFERA. 



1. Tubipora inusica, L. 



A single specimen well preserved in spirit of this widely distributed species was 

 sent to us. It was obtained at Welle Island, D'Entrecasteaux group. Attention has 

 already been called by one of us (7) to the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence 

 for dividing the genus into a number of species, and the comparison of both hard 

 and soft parts of this specimen with specimens obtained by Dr Gulliver in Zanzibar 

 and by one of us in Celebes confirms the opinion previously expressed that there 

 is only one species of the genus. The principal character which has been used for 

 distinguishing species is the diameter of the polyp walls, but this character in every 

 specimen depends entirely upon the situation on the reef in which it happened to 

 grow. It is what would be called in modern phraseology " an acquired character," and 

 there is no evidence that it is one which is inherited as all true specific characters 

 may be. The tubes happen to be in this specimen 2'5 mm. in diameter, but there 

 can be little doubt that if Dr Willey had collected specimens from different localities 

 great variations would have been found in this character. 



If we accepted the current views on the species of Tubipora, Dr Willey's specimen 

 would be called T. rubeola Q and G (20). In describing their new species these 

 authors say that compared with T. viusica " les tubes sont plus gros, plus long, legers, 

 moins serrds et offrant cylindres de deux a trois pouces sans nojuds." It is true 

 that the distance between the platforms does not amount to more than 10 mm., but 

 the specimen is a young one and in other respects resembles the description of T. 

 rubeola Q and G. 



w. IV. ()6 



