( Antipathidae) from the Polar Seas, 81 



the case that a whole series of northern Echinoderms {Rhizo- 

 crinus lofotensis, Pteraster militaris^ Echinus Flemingii^ Bris- 

 sojysis lyrifera, Echinocardium ovatum, Echinocucumis typicttj 

 Cucumaria frondosa^ and Molpadia horealis'^) live together in 

 the deep water around and among the Antilles, there is, of 

 course, nothing against the possibility that an Antipathid also 

 might be diffused from the icj sea to south of the ti'opic 

 of Cancer ; and our thoughts turn quite naturally at once to 

 the species recently recorded by Pourtales f from the Straits 

 of Florida. Nevertheless I have been unable to refer the pre- 

 sent form to any species known to me either in nature or from 

 descriptions or figures ; and although this, considering what 

 has been said above as to the defective state of this depart- 

 ment of our science, is not much to say, I hope that I shall 

 not fall into any mistake in describing it as new. For its 

 recognition the annexed photoxylographic figure (fig. 3) will, 

 I hope, furnish sufficient means, although I will not omit to add 

 a short description of it ; but first I will endeavour to deter- 

 mine its approximate place in the systematic arrangement of 

 the Antipathidae. 



According to Milne-Edwards's proposed classification of 

 this family, our Greenland species is undoubtedly a true Anti- 

 jKithes ) it is branched and has a rough surface, and its branches 

 show no very great tendency to coalesce (as in Arachnopathes 

 and Rhi2ndipathes)j although, apparently accidentally, a slight 

 amalgamation occm*s at isolated points. I shall leave it for 

 the present undecided how far it may be possible to distin- 

 guish the genera of Antipathidse in the mode attempted by 

 the above-mentioned distinguished zoologist : opinions are 

 divided upon this subject | ; and the analogous genera to them 

 in the parallel group of the Alcyonaria have not stood the test 

 of the more thoroughgoing analysis of recent times ; but under 



* Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Harvard Col- 

 lege, Nos. 9-13. " Contributions to the Fauna of the Gulf-stream at 

 Great Depths : Echinoderms," by A. Agassiz, T. Lyman, and Pom-tales, 

 1869. 



t Op. cit. 1867, p. 112 ; 1868, p. 1.33. 



X At the same time with Mibie-Edwards, Gray gave (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1857) a systematic arrangement of the Antipathidae. He has only two 

 genera — Leiopathes, with smooth, and AntijMfhes, with spinous axis, 

 and distinguishes the species with an unbranched axis only as a subgenus 

 (Cirripathes) of the latter. Moreover Milne-Edwards himself regards 

 his attempt at a more minute division of the Antipathidae into genera as 

 essentially only an artificial arrangement for the ready revision of the 

 species, and pays particular attention to certain striking differences (I. c. 

 pp. 312,313). V'^errill also says that "generic characters derived only 

 from the mode of growth and branching are always unsatisfactory in 

 classing compound Zoophytes " (Notes on Radiata, No. 6, p. 499). 



