1862.] MR. HOLDSWORTH ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORALS. 199 
or rather adhesion to another individual of its own species, may be 
observed in Milne-Edwards’s figure of the type-specimen of Rhizo- 
trochus*, The species now under consideration should, I think, be 
placed in the genus Flabellum, although differing in some of its cha- 
racters from most of the typical forms ; and as it is the largest mem- 
ber of the genus, I propose to call it nodile. 
The precise habitat of this coral is unknown. It was brought to 
this country by the late Sir Everard Home ; and as that gentleman’s 
collections were principally made in the neighbourhood of Australia 
and New Zealand, these corals were probably obtained from the same 
part of the world. 
The specimens are now in the Museum of the Royal College of 
Surgeons of England. 
5. On THE OccURRENCE oF CARYOPHYLLIA CLAVUS ON THE 
Coasts or BRITAIN, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE C1RCUM- 
STANCES AFFECTING THE DisTRIBUTION OF CORALS AROUND 
THE Britisy Istanps. By E. W. H. Hotpsworrs, F.L.S., 
F.Z.S., ETC. 
By the kindness of the Rev. Thomas Hincks of Leeds, I have re- 
cently been enabled to examine some specimens of coral which had 
been forwarded to him from Shetland, and from Loch Fyne on the east 
coast of Scotland. They prove to be new to Britain, and are iden- 
tical with the Caryophyllia clavus of the Mediterranean, first described 
as a fossil by Scacchi in 1833, and figured and described from recent 
specimens under the name of Cyathina turbinata by Philippi in his 
‘Catalogue of Sicilian Mollusca,’ published in 1836. Several ex- 
amples of this coral have been obtained from deep water in the above- 
mentioned localities ; and an examination of characteristic specimens 
of different ages has enabled me also to identify with this species two 
small and much-worn corals which, in June 1857, were dredged 
from a depth of 60 fathoms, about forty miles west of Scilly, by 
Mr. 8. P. Woodward of the British Museum, and kindly placed in 
my hands a short time ago by that gentleman. 
This species of Caryophyllia may be readily distinguished from its 
near ally, our common C. smithii, by its conical form and finely 
pointed base, as well as by the thinness of its walls and lamelle. 
The general character of the polype, as described by Philippit, agrees 
with that of C. smithii; the integuments, however, are said to be 
excessively delicate and transparent, so that the borders of the 
lamelle can be seen through them. The body is of an orange-colour, 
and the capitate tentacles whitish with metallic-green reflections. 
The coral is frequently attached to a tube of Ditrupa, or the shell of 
some deep-water univalve, or, in some cases, is entirely free. In 
* Milne-Edwards et J. {laime, Ann. des Sc. Nat. 3° sér. t. ix. p. 282, pl. 8. f. 16, 
1848. 
+ Philippi, Arch. fur Naturgesch. t. i. p. 42, 1842. 
