OF THE KERGUELEX EEGIOX OF THE GEEAT SOUTHERN OCEAN. 357 



Leptopenns ' discus, Moseley. 



Hydroida : 



*CryptoIaria abyssicola ,' AUmaii. 

 • ^HaUsiphonia megalotheca,^ Allman. 



Stephanoscyphus simplex, Allman, ]\JS. 



Medus.e : 



AtoIIa wyvillei, Haockel. 

 *Pectis antarctica, Haeckel. 

 *Periphema regina, Haeckel. 

 • *TJiamnostyhcs clinema. Haeckel. 



S1PHOXOPHOR.E : 



^Disconalia pectylUs, Haeckel. 



Crixoidea : 



Antedon * abyssicola,^ Carpenter. 



than any other deep-.sea coral, being, in fact, apparently universally distributed in deep water. It has also a wider 

 range in depth than any other animal, occurring in 30 fathoms off Bermuda, and in the East Pacific Ocean at a depth of 

 3 miles. It was dredged abundantly at Station 244, 2900 fathoms, the specimens being lai^e and in full vigour, full 

 of ripe ova. Some specimens appear as if they had been broken and had reunited, or possibly they were when obtained 

 in the act of splitting up into fragments, or have a tendency to do so. — (Moselet, Zool. Chall. Exp., part 7, pp. 1S6-188.) 

 1 I have founded this genus [Leptopemis] to contain two very remarkable corals, dredged in deep water, which are 

 so fragile that it is astonishing that they arrived at the surface in such good preservation as that in which they were 

 obtained. The two species differ markedly from one another, but have so many fundamental agreements that they 

 must evidently be placed in the same genus. They are evidently closely related to the Stephanophyllias, but their 

 corallum is so perforate as to be reduced to a mere lace-work. No corals immediately like them appear to have been 

 procured before, or since, either in the recent or fossil condition. Specimens belonging to the genus were dredged on 

 four occasions, all from deep water (over 1500 fathoms), and all in the Southern Hemisphere.— (Moselet, ZooI. Chall. 

 Exp., part 7, p. 205.) 



* The vast depth from which Cnjpfolaria abijssimla has been dredged (2600 fathoms) gives it a special interest, 

 which is greatly enhanced by the fact that it affords one of the very few instances as yet known in which the gonosome 

 of Cryptolaria has been detected. The scattered instead of distichous disposition of the hydrotheca? is a peculiar and 

 exceptional character. — (Allmax, Zool. Chall. Exp., part 70, p. 40.) 



* The genus Halisiphonia is represented in the Challenger collection by a single species, which presents many 

 points of special interest. . . . The very long tubular hydrotheca; gradually jiassing into their long peduncles confer 

 on this remarkable species [Halisiphonia megalotheca'] an aspect as striking as it is distinctive. . . . The enormous 

 depth of 2600 fathoms from which both Halisiphonia megalotheca and Crtiptolaria abyssicola were obtained has much 

 significance, in connection with the fact that in both species the gonangia are present, Halisiphonia megalotheca aft'ording 

 the only known instance, and Cnjpfolaria abyssicola one of the very few, in which any part of the gonosome has been 

 observed in these genera.— (Allmax, Zool. CItall. E.vp., part 70, p. 31.) 



^ In discussing the distribution of Antedon and Actinometra, the two principal genera of ComatuLe, it must 

 be remembered that each of them, but especially Antedon, contains a very large number of species, and they should be 

 considered for this purpose to represent subfamilies rather than genera. Thus, for example, the name Antedon is now 

 given to all eudocyclic Comatula" with the basals metamorphosed into a rosette, and five rays bearing ten or more 

 arms, just in the same way as the name Echinus was originally used for a variety of regular Urchins, which have now 

 received dift'erent generic names. The difference between the tiny ten-armed Antedon oftys^ioofa inhabiting depths of 

 3 miles and upwards, and the littoral Antedon clegans, Antedon multiradiata, or Antedon regalis, is no doubt verv 

 considerable at first sight ; but there are so manj- intermediate links between the simple and the complex forms, that 

 no hard and fast generic lines can be drawn. — (P. H. Carpenter, Zool. Chall. Exp., part 60, p. 31.) 



^ This little species [Antedon abyssicola'\ is one of very considerable interest, apart altogether from the peculiarities 



