146 
into joints alternately long and short; the longer ones white, 
hollow, and calcareous, and the shorter ones horny brown. 
We should also mention Primnoa Pourtalesri (Fig. 458), a 
plumose gorgonian with regularly pinnate branchlets all in one 
plane. To this genus belongs also the huge bush coral Primnoa, 
THREE CRUISES OF THE ‘ BLAKE.” 
Fig. 458. — Primnoa Pourtalesii. 2. (Verrill.) 
which grows to the height of man, and has an axis as thick as 
a man's leg. 
Many of the gorgonians are beautifully phosphorescent when 
brought to the surface, and their closely clustered branches, as 
in Calyptrophora (Fig. 459) are the abode of hosts of crustacea, 
annelids, mollusks, and echinoderms, which find shelter there 
from their enemies. 
The Actinide, or sea-anemones, so common in shallow water, 
are represented by a number of species in our deep waters; 
many of them are finely colored, some of them developing a 
peculiar base adapted to soft bottoms, representing perhaps, as 
has been suggested by Verrill, a primitive type from which the 
