2 
ameter, flatly tapering toward the tip, as well as decreasing in the opposite 
direction to where the polypiferous rows terminate or become obsolete. From 
this latter point to the beginning of the base or root, a portion of the polypi- 
dom, equal to about one sixth of its entire length, is quite slender, being only 
about twice the diameter of the naked axis, and the surface quite smooth ; said 
portion, as well as the base, is round (in cross section) ; the basal part is from 
one ninth to one eleventh of the entire length, and about one inch in diameter, 
with the surface longitudinally wrinkled or contracted, presenting a ridged or 
fibrous appearance. 
Style or axis long, slender, white, hard, bony, somewhat polished, about three 
sixteenths (3-16) of an inch in diameter in the thickest part, tapering gradually 
toward the tip, and attenuated, with surface somewhat roughened toward the 
basal extremity. Inclosed in the polyp-mass or polypidom, the axis is central 
from the base to where the polyp-rows begin, when it soon becomes marginal or 
lateral, forming a prominent rounded edge (free from polyps) on one side of the 
polypiferous portion of the whole. From near the sides of the axial edge the 
polyp-rows start, and run obliquely upward to the opposite side, where they 
nearly or quite meet, presenting, when that side is observed from above, a con- 
centric chevron or A-like arrangement. The more conspicuous polyp-rows 
show from nine to fourteen polyps, with occasional intermediate rows of three 
or more polyps. 
The length of the most perfect of Dr. Blake’s specimens was sixty-six (66) 
inches ; of which, commencing at the tip, a length of forty-eight and a quarter 
(4814) inches was occupied by the polyp-rows, which numbered two hundred 
and forty-five (245), or twice that number when both sides or arms of the chev- 
ron or A are considered. The number of polyps in each row was, in this speci- 
men, from eight (8) to eleven (11), with occasional intermediate shorter rows of 
from three (3) to seven (7). Hstimating ten to the row, this specimen exhibited 
about five thousand polyps, all of which, as well as the polyps in the other speci- 
mens, were filled with diminutive ova, of an orange color. In the next section 
of this specimen, the length between the last polyp-row and ihe swell of the base 
or root, is eleven and one quarter (1114) inches ; thence to the termination of the 
base, six (6) inches. 
The average dimensions of thirty-six (36) of the axes in the Museum of the 
California Academy is five feet six and one third inches in length, and the diam- 
eter or the largest, nine thirty-seconds of an inch; diameter of smallest speci- 
men, one sixteenth of an inch. 
In connection with the above description, some allowance should be made for 
the contraction and injury of the tissues by the alcohol in which the specimens 
were placed after they reached this city. 
Additional specimens of the above species, from the same locality, have been 
received from J 8. Lawson, Esq., U.S. Coast Survey, by George Davidson, 
Ksq., President of the Academy. 
