Dr. A. Gunther on a Gigantic Species o/'Batrachus. 131 



tudinally grooved. Polypes clustered together on all sides of 

 the ends of the branches, forming an ovate-lanceolate group 

 or thyrse. Polype-cell cylindrical, with a subglobular head 

 when the polype is contracted. 



1. VerrilMana ramosa. {Alcyonium ramosum, Quoy & Gaim. 



Voy. Astrol. iv. 275, t. 23. f. 8-11. Ammothea ra- 

 mosa, M.-Edw.) 

 Hah. New Granada (Quoy). 



2. VerrilMana ihyrsoides. {Ammothea thyrsoides, Ehrenb. 



Nephthya thyrsoidea, Verrill.) 

 Rob. Red Sea (Ehr.), Cape of Good Hope (Verrill). 



Fam. 12. Paralcyoniadae. 



Coral membranaceous, branched above, smooth, with minute 

 dermal spicules near the mouths of the polypes ; the bodies of 

 the polypes opening into each other, making a common cavity. 

 The coral retractile into a tubular sheath covered with large 

 dermal spicules. Tentacles retractile. 



Pakalcyonium, M.-Edw. (Afoyomdia, M.-Edw. 1835.) 



Paralcyonium elegans, M.-Edw. Corall. i. 130, t. la. f. 1. 

 (Alcyonidia elegans, M.-Edw. Ann. Sc. Nat. 1835, iv. 

 t. 12, 13.) 

 Hab. Algiers. 



XX. — Notice of a Gigantic Species of Batrachus from the 

 Seychelle Islands. By A. Gunther, F.R.S. 



The British Museum has lately received, through Lieut.-Col. 

 Playfair, the dried head of a gigantic Acanthopterygian Fish, 

 which was captured by Swinburne Ward, Esq., H.M. Civil 

 Commissioner for the Seychelles. To judge from the head, 

 this fish appears to be equal in bulk to any of the species of 

 Histiophorus, if, indeed, it does not exceed them in size. I 

 was previously acquainted with this fish from a pair of jaws 

 only, preserved in the British Museum for a long time ; but I 

 was unable to form any opinion from these fragments as re- 

 gards the systematic position of the fish to which they be- 

 longed. ' Although one character of Batrachus, viz. prominent 

 spines of the opercles, is absent, or at least not conspicuous in 

 the head before me, its appearance and structure is that of the 

 species of this genus ; and as I do not know of a species to 

 which it may be referred, I regard this fish as undescribed, 



