Royal Society, 197 



Acanthogorgia coccinea, Verrill. 



Nepthya coccinea, Stimpson, I. c. 1855. 



Hong-Kong, 10 fathoms, on shells. Dr. Wm. Stimpson. 



Veretillum Stimpsonii, Verrill. 



A large species, 6 or 8 inches long, the upper portion en- 

 larged, more than half the entire length. Polyps much exsert, 

 upwards of an inch long; tentacles very long. Axis thick, 

 short, fusiform, a third of an inch long. Base white, somewhat 

 striated; body light cream-colour; polyps transparent, bluish 

 white at the bases of the tentacles. 



Hong-Kong, 6-10 fathoms, mud. Dr. Wm. Stimpson. 



Veretillum baculatum, Verrill. 



Club-shaped, the base about a third of the length. Polyps 

 scattered, not numerous. Axis small, fusiform, about half an 

 inch long in a specimen 3 inches long. 



Sea of Ochotsk, oflF Siberia. L. M. Squires. 



Kophobelemnon clavatum, Verrill. 

 Veretillum clavatum, Stimpson, I. c. 1865. 

 Polyps more numerous and crowded than in K. Burgeri, 

 Herkl., which it resembles; body more claviform, naked dorsal 

 space very narrow. 



Hong-Kong, 6 fathoms, mud. Dr. Wm. Stimpson. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



June 15, 1865. — Major-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. 



"On the Anatomy and Physiology of the Nematoids, parasitic 

 and free ; with observations on their Zoological Position and Affini- 

 nities to the Echiuoderms." By Henry Charlton Bastian, M.A., 

 M.B. (Lond.), F.L.S. 



After commenting upon the many conflicting statements which 

 have been made concerning the anatomy of these animals, and more 

 especially with regard to the presence or absence of a nervous 

 system, and of real organs of circulation, the author alludes to the 

 increased interest which has lately been thrown over this order by 

 the discovery of so many new species of the non-parasitic forms, 

 marine, land, and freshwater. 



He has entered fully into the description of the tegumentary 

 organs, and has recognized a distinct cellulo-granular layer inter- 

 veuiug between the great longitudinal muscles and the external chiti- 



