48 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academi/. 



of concentric laminae, which consist of a horny substance impregnated with 

 some form of calcareous matter. The surface is marked by longitudinal grooves, 

 which correspond iu number to the inner series of longitudinal canals, and 

 therefore diminish from the base upwards. Sometimes two larger than the 

 others are to be seen, and these represent the position of the two main 

 canals. The spicules consist of the usual Juncella types, and include clubs, 

 double-wheels, and double-stars. The colour varies from pure white, through 

 orange, to dark red. 



XL — Juncella gemmacea. Figs. 15-19. 



Gorgonia gemmacea A^alenciennes, MSS. dans la Coll. du Mus. Paris. 



Verrucella „ Milne-Edwards and Haime, xxvi., p. 185, B 2, f. 7. 



Ju7icella „ KoUiker, xxiii., p. 140, t, 14, f. 4. 



„ „ AVright and Studer 1., p. 158, PI. xxxiv, fig. Vi. 



„ „ var. Eidley, xxxii., p. 241. 



„ „ Studer xxxvii., p. 117. 



„ „ Thomson and Eussell, xliii., p. 162. 



Ellisella „ Gray, xii., p. 26. 



Ellisdla macidata (pars) Wright and Studer, 1. 



Juiicella elongafa vav. Eidley xxxiii., p. 346. 



Valenciennes in 1855 established this species to include a specimen iu the 

 Natural History Museum in Paris, under the name of Gorgonia gemmacea 

 (MSS. dans la collect, du Museum Paris). 



In 1857 Milne-Edwards and Haime leferred the species to the genus 

 Verrucella, and defined it as follows : — 



" Polypi^roide dont les branches, assez uombreuses et cylindriques, se 

 dichotomosent de loin en loin, et s'ecartent beaucoup entre elles ; les 

 ramuscules terminau.v allonges. Coenenchyme tres-friable, d'un jaune 

 ferrugineux a la surface et blanchatre puis de I'axe. Yerrues caliciferes tres- 

 saillantes, arrondees et dressees centre la tige." 



They give a very good figure, showing the mode of branching. In 1865 

 KoUiker removed the species from the genus Verrucella to Juncella, and 

 noted for the first time that " clubs " occurred amongst the spicules just as in 

 J. junceo.. He gives two figures — (1) a club-shaped spicule (woodcut 19, 1); 

 (2) a cross-section of the axis (Pl. xiv, fig. 4). 



Gray in 1870 referred this species to the genus Ellisella with no appai-ent 

 justification. (See our Historical Xote.) This change, however, was not 

 recognized by any subsequent authors, so that Eidley in 1884 identified 

 some specimens from Queensland, under the name of J. gemmacea, and 



