REPORT ON THE XENIIDAE COLLECTED BY DH WILLEY. 527 



Seven colonies were examined for sexual products, five are male, one female, and 

 one (A", viridis) hermaphrodite, containing 3'oung ova and more advanced spermatozoa 

 (for more detailed description see p. 517 and Fig. 14). 



The spermatozoa arise and develop similarly to those of X. Hicksoni. The ripe 

 spermatozoa of X. Novae Britanniae are considerably smaller than those of X. Hicksoni. 

 In X. uinhellata large and probably ripe ova are present. The largest ova are some- 

 what oval in shape and 'o mm. x "6 mm. in diameter. These ova are described in 

 detail on p. 515. They are rather larger than those of Alcyonium digitatum but in 

 other respects resemble them closely. 



Addendum. 



Since the completion of this Report a memoir by Walther May (Beitrdge zur 

 Systematik und Chorologie der Alcyonaceen. Jenaische Zeitschrift. Band xxxiii. Heft 1, 

 Jena, 1899) has come into my hands. This memoir contains a description of six new 

 species of Xenia and records the taking of four other previously known species. 



May (p. 77) .suggests that probably A^ viridis, Scheuk, and A', elunc/ata, Dana, 

 are identical and that the descriptions of X. plicata, Schenk, and X. florida, Dana, 

 do not mention any characters by which the two species may be distinguished. With 

 regard to the former statement it may be pointed out that there are several essential 

 points of difference between X. viridis and X. elongata. The great length of the polyps 

 of the latter, shown in Dana's figure (1848, Plate 57, Fig. 5) to be 18 — 20 mm. or 

 even .30mm. long, and their "slender and elongate" pinnules (Dana, 1848, p. 607) 

 distinguish this species from X. viridis, in which the polyp bodies are ouly 4 — 7 mm. 

 long and the pinnules are small and thick or small round warts (Schenk, 1896, p. 62). 

 Dana's description of X. florida is not as detailed as we could wi.sh and there certainly 

 is difficulty in distinguishing this species from X. j)licata. The bodies of the polyps 

 of the former are of greater length, being 8 — 1:^ mm. long according to Dana's figure 

 (1848, Plate 57, Fig. 4) while those of X. plicata are only 4 — 5 mm. long and the 

 tentacles of the former are broader than those of the latter (see table, p. 524). 



May also records A^ lombellata, Savigny, from Mozambique, Tumbatu and Baui 

 Island, X. elisabethae {= H eteroxenia Elizahethae), Kolliker, and X. membranacea, Schenk, 

 from Zanzibar, and X. blumi. Schenk, from Tanga and Suez. 



Six new species are described by May but there are several important points with 

 regard to which further details would have been useful to systematists, e.g. the number 

 of pinnules in the rows present on the tentacles or the number of pinnules vi-sible 

 on one side of the outer a.spect of the tentacle of an adult polyp. The size of the 

 pinnules is also a useful factor. Both these characters are omitted from May's diagnoses 

 and descriptions. The new species are — X. tumbatuana, X. quinqueserta and X. medusoides 

 from Tumbatu, X. bauiana from Zanzibar and Baui Island, X. sansibariana from Zanzibar 

 and X. rigida from Mozambique. 



70—2 



