ALCYONARIA — .T. A. THOMSON' AND DORIS L. MACKINXON. 149 



Nearly all tlie specimens are coinplftte. From a slightly 

 encrusting base rises a stout stalk portion, witli a diameter, in 

 the largest specimen, of 4 5 cm. This stalk is of very tiini con- 

 sistency, and has a rather harsh, wrinkled surface. The poly- 

 parium of the smallest specimen is unbranched and club-shaped. 

 In all the others at a height of 2-3 cm. the stalk-portion divides 

 np into a number of stout, diverging, finger-like lobes, 1-2 cm. in 

 diameter. These subdivide into secondary lobes, usually from 

 05-l'75cui. in height, with diameters ranging from 1 cm. to 175 

 cm. Upwards from a point about •5-2 cm. from the base, the 

 entire colony is covered with polyps which, in most of the speci- 

 mens, are retracted into low, rounded, eight-lobed calyces. The 

 average distance lietween two polyps is l-.'j mm. The polyps, 

 when fully expanded, have a length of 'Jo mm. Tht-y are marked 

 with eight longitudinal grooves, and just below the level of the 

 tentacles they are armoured with eii;ht isosceles triangles, each 

 composed of 8-10 converging pairs of slender spicules. Near the 

 base of each triangle these meet at an angle of about 45°; higher 

 up, they are almost parallel ; but very occasionally one or two are 

 directed horizontally below the triangular points. The tentacles 

 are entirely without spicules : they are long and feathery, with 

 about ten long pinnules on each side of the middle line in a 

 single row. 



The whole surface of ctenenchy ma appears as though dusted over 

 with a thick sprinkling of small, white, glistening spicules, which 

 bear a resemblance to grains of sugar. These are stout double-clubs 

 and capstan-like bodies with a distinct " neck," and, on an aver- 

 age, two whorls of projecting, tubercuHte warts. The following 

 measurements were taken of length and breadth in millimetres : — 

 ■187 X 119; 17 X 119; 119 x -102; 085 x 085. Smaller 

 forms (102 X 068 ram. ; 085 x -051 mm.) approach Kiilliker's 

 " Sechser " and are proliably young stages of the first. The 

 entire cortex is crowd&l with s)iicul(s of the same form as those 

 on the surface, and similar spicules occur, but naioli more 

 sparingly in the canal walls. 



The spicules of the i>olyps are spindles and clul>s of slender 

 form, with a few projecting warts. Tiieir dimensions in mm. 

 are 306 x 034; -27 x 068 ; 204 x 017 ; 17 x 017. 



The colour of the colonies is greyish-brown to dark-brown ; the 

 polyps are a darker shade of the same colour. 



Tn many respects this species comes very near to llickson's 

 Alcyoniwn pjirpiireunt'K 



sHickson— The Alcyonaria of the Cape of Good Hope, part ii.— Marine 

 Investigations in Sonth Africa, iii., 190-1, pp. 215-217, pi. vii., fig. l.pl.ix., 

 fig. 18. 



