176 



Prof. F. J. Bell on Xiphigorgia Ridleyi 



XXT. — Description q/" Xiphigorgia Ridleyi. 

 By Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, M.A. 



Some four years since the Trustees of the British Museum ac- 

 quired by purchase a specimen which was referred to tlie genus 

 Xiphigorgia by my former colleague Mr. S. O. Bidley, but 

 which has not yet been specifically identified. As it appears 

 to be still undescribed, though no doubt allied to X. anceps *, 

 I propose to call it X. Ridleyi. 



Corallum commences to branch much nearer its base than 

 in X. anceps^ it branches more frequently and into more 

 slender parts ; the whole forms a wider, less bushy, but more 

 compact mass. The branches are flatter than in X. anceps^ 

 and are not marked by any median crest. The cortex is 

 white, except at the edges, which are purplish red, and is 

 smoother than in X. ancejjs. Verrucaj small, obsolete, sepa- 

 rated from one another by about their own width. 



The form of the spicules, as usual, will be better understood 

 from the accompanying woodcut (fig. A) than from any 



description ; the spicules of X. anceps have already been 

 figured by Kolliker f ; but those of X. setacea have never yet 

 been given J. I take therefore this opportunity of figuring 



* I cannot think that Dr. Horn was correct in regarding X. setacea of 

 Milne-Edwards and Haime as synonymous with " G. Juncea" otPhllas, 

 nor is there any good reason for keeping JYT. simplex of Valenciennes (not 

 ''Gorff.;" see Proc. Philad. Sec. 1860 (1861), p. 368) distinct from X. 

 setacea. 



t Icones Histiolog. pi. xviii. figs. 32 and 33. 



X The spicule figured by Mr. Savile Kent is hardly typical of the species. 



