304 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Antipatharia. 



looks as if it never had any, and the latter is almost unaltered, 

 in the form and position of its polyps, from what it was when 

 living and fully expanded in the sea-water. Thus, as the 

 theca or sarcodic covering of Antipathes appears to be of the 

 same nature, it would seem to be useless to seek for the form 

 and structure of the polyps after the sarcode has once been 

 broken down by desiccation. That is therefore now the great 

 desideratum *. 



The thread-cells, as they are much tougher and therefore 

 more durable, may generally be detected ; at least they exist 

 in the dried remains of the sarcode on Hydradendrium spino- 

 sunij where, with all appliances, I have not been able to get 

 out the form of the polyp. It may be remembered that I also 

 found them in a dried specimen of Ceratella procumbens 

 (Hydractinian) ('Annals,' 1873, vol. xi. p. 11), although 

 this specimen had probably been picked up on the beach at Port 

 Natal, in which way, also probably, most of the specimens of 

 Antipathes have come into the museums, when the delicate 

 layer of sarcode which covered them would stand little chance 

 of preservation, exposed to the scouring effect of the sand and 

 waves together. 



There is one point in Antipathes, as well as in the Hydrac- 

 tinian Ceratella fusca, that should be mentioned here : viz. 

 Pallas states that, although the flesh may be absent, the spines 

 remain to diagnose the species (p. 207) ; but Lamouroux 

 observes that they are " rarely smooth " — that is, sometimes 

 without spines (p. 189) ; and Milne Edwards confirms this 

 (vol. i. p. 312) ; while I have already observed that Ceratella 

 fusca &c. have none (' Annals,' 1873, vol. xi. p. 12), assuming 

 that HydrcCctinia and Antipathes belong to the same family. 

 If Pallas has erred in this matter, Milne-Edwards has done 

 no less so in mixing up Hyalonema Sieboldi with Zoanthus 

 at the end of his Antipathes (p. 324). But "to err is human," 

 especially in a progressive subject like natural history. 



Postscript. 



Since the above was written, Mr. Thomas H. Higgin, 

 F.L.S., has kindly sent me several species of Antipathes for 

 examination, with reference to Hydradendrium spinosum 

 stating that, " if the latter belongs to the Hydractiniidas, so 

 do all our specimens of Antipathes, which at present we have 

 near the Gorgoniidee, in the Liverpool Free Museum ,• and 

 if you are right, then will all require removing." 



* [The author unfortunately does not seem to have consulted Lacaze- 

 Duthier's classical memoirs " Sur les Antipathaires," in the ' Anuales dea 

 Sciences Naturelles,' ser. 5, Tome ii. p. 169, and Tome iv. p. 1. Had he 

 done so, his doubts as to the organization of the polyps might have been 

 set at rest —Ed's. A. M. N. H.] 



