Dr. E. P. Wright on a new Genus of Gorgonida?. 23 



thin, almost membranaceous, smooth, and slightly wrinkled. 

 Polype-cells on all sides of the branchlets, alternate or oppo- 

 site, cylindrical, short, smooth externally, with a convex 

 8-valved top. Axis very slender, thread-like, except the 

 main stems, calcareous, hard, pale horn-colour, very brittle. 



Brandella intricate. 



Coral fan-shaped, expanded. Stem very irregular ; branches 

 and branchlets regularly pinnately disposed, forming an irre- 

 gular network ; some of the uppermost branchlets free. 



Hab. Bass's Strait, Dewi Reef. (T. M. Rayner.) 



VIII. — On a new Genus of Gorgonidae from Portugal. By 

 Edward Perceval Wright, M.D., F.L.S., Professor of 

 Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin. 



When in Lisbon in September 1868, my friend Professor J. 

 V. Barboza du Bocage showed me three very remarkable 

 specimens of Alcyonarian Corals which had been taken, from 

 a considerable depth, off the coast at Setubal. The most re- 

 markable of these was a magnificent specimen of Paragorgia 

 arbor ea (Linn.), which was several feet in height, and was in 

 excellent preservation. A second specimen was Primnoa 

 lepadifera (Linn.) ; and the third appeared to me to present 

 some affinities to Mopsea arbusculum (Yate Johnson*), a spe- 

 cies taken at Madeira. Professor Bocage kindly gave me a 

 specimen for examination, accompanied by a request that, if 

 new, I would describe it. It appears to me not only to be a 

 new species, but to present characters that render it necessary 

 to form a new genus for its reception. I would therefore pro- 

 pose to characterize it as follows : — 



Keratoisis, gen. nov. 



Coral branched, irregularly furcate ; axis jointed, composed 

 of horny and calcareous portions ; the latter are hollow, smooth^, 

 varying considerably in length, and maintaining their form 

 after maceration in caustic alkalies ; the branches are given off 

 from the calcareous portions. The so-called "barky layer" 

 (coenenchyma) is well developed, and contains a large number of 

 calcareous spicules. The polypes are irregularly and somewhat 



* "Descriptions of two Corals from Madeira belonging to the Genera 



Primnoa and Mopsea" Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 245, pi. 31. figs. 1 and 1 a. 



t I have only been able to examine a portion of one of the smaller 



branches. It is possible that the calcareous joints near the point of 



attachment of the stem mav be striated and solid. 



