ALCYONARIA — J. A. THOMSON AND DORIS L. MACKINNON. 177 



of autozooids, rarely two. Hickson notes luucli the same thing 

 in his Preliminary Report on a collection of Alcyonaria and 

 Zoaotharia from Port Phillip.'- 



Again, one of the marks that is given by KoUiker to distinguish 

 the genus Sarcophyllum from Pteroeides is the absence of spicule- 

 rays in the pinnules. We found this to hold true for all the 

 larger speoiraeus, but, in the young colony above referred to, 

 which has much less fleshy pinnules, the rays of spicules were 

 very well marked. This seems to us of considerable interest as 

 indicating the danger th;it arises from basing genera on chai-acters 

 that may lie present in the full-grown form only. We were in 

 considerable difficulty in the present instance, until we detected 

 the eminently characteristic spicules of Sarcophyllum australe in 

 the base of the colony. The following table gives the dimensions 

 in cm. of the largest, and of the smallest specimens : — 



Specimen A. SpecimeD B. 



Length of the entire colony ... 225 ... 7'2 



,, rachis ... ... 13 ... 35 



stalk 9-5 ... 3-7 



Breadth of the racliis ... ... 65 .. 09 



stalk 5-5 ... 0-3 



Maximum breadth of pinnules ... 3 ... 04 



Height of pinnules in the middle ... 2 ... 0'4 



Number of pinnules on each side ... 30 ... 27 



In all the larger colonies the stalk is greatly swollen midway 

 between the rachis and the base. The smallest specimen shows 

 no such swelling. 



The colour of the specimen is light brown to dark chocolate- 

 brown, sometimes with a purplish tinge here and there. 



Localities. — Cape Hawke, 10-12 fatiioms, and 25-28 fathoms; 

 off Port Stephen, 32-18 fathoms. 



Previously recorded from Australia — Port Phillip, Victoria 

 (Hickson). 



"Hickson— Prnc. Koy. .Soc. Vict., n.s., ii., li>90 p. lHt>. 



