34 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Fauna of the Gulf Stream," ^ described a new species, Sar- 

 codictyon rugosum, as having been found off Havana in 1270 

 fathoms. His brief diagnosis contains what are probably 

 generic characters only, with the exception of the statement 

 " colour dirty white," consequently it is difficult to say 

 whether or not aS'. rugosum is really distinct from the British 

 species. 



In 1870, Mr W. Saville Kent, in a short paper "On 

 two new genera of Alcyonoid Corals taken in the recent 

 Expedition of the Yacht ' N'orna ' off the coast of Spain and 

 Portugal," ^ described a new genus, Gymnosarca, with one 

 species, G-. lathyhius, found off the coast of Cezimbra, Portugal, 

 at a depth of 500 fathoms. The short generic description 

 seems to be applicable in every detail mentioned to any of the 

 described species of Sarcodictyon, so that if really distinct 

 Gymnosarca must be a very close ally indeed. The above, 

 with the exception of a passing reference to the structure of 

 Sarcodictyon in a paper ^ by Mr Sydney Hickson just pub- 

 lished, is the entire literature of the genus, so far as I have 

 been able to ascertain. 



In regard to the zoological position of the genus, Milne 

 Edwards and Haime, in their synopsis of the genera of 

 Zoophytes,* place Sarcodictyon in the family Alcyonidse, 

 sub-family Cornularinse. Forbes^ objects to this, and insists 

 upon its close relationship to Alcyonium, from which, he 

 says, '*it differs merely in the stoloniferous method of growth." 

 Saville Kent,^ Claus,'^ and other recent authors, agree in 

 placing Sarcodictyon close to Cornularia and Clavidaria, 

 and this seems undoubtedly to be the true position of the 

 genus.^ 



^ Bull. Mus, Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll., Cambridge, U.S. America, vol. i., 

 No. 6, p. 113. 



2 Quart. Jour. Micro. Science, vol. x., p. 397. 



^ Ibid., vol. xxiii., No. xcii., p. 556, 1883. 



^ Monogr. des Polyp. Foss., Arch, du Mus. d'liist. Nat., t. v., p. 181. 



^ Loc. ciL, p. 309. 



^ Quart. Jour. Micro. Science, vol. x., p. 397. 



7 Grundzuge der Zoologie, p. 208, 1876. 



8 Hickson (Proc. Roy. Soc, No. 226, 1883) proposes to unite these genera 

 with Tuhipora in one group — the Stolonifera. 



