440 REPORT — 1867. 



POLYZOA. 



Two or three fragments of the beautiful coral Ilonicra vlolacea of 8ars 

 were dredged between Balta and Whalsey in 40-50 fathoms. A fine spe- 

 cimen procured by Mr. Barlee has long been in my collection. I found it 

 among his Polyzoa bequeathed to me marked " Shetland." The confirmation 

 of the discovery is, however, of importance, and this fine addition to our 

 fauna is now for the first time made public. A very remarkable Lepralia, 

 found between tidcmarks at Balta, differs widely from all known species. 

 The mouth of the hyaline, punctate, ovate cells, instead of being sessile, is 

 elevated to the extremity of a long tube which rises from the poljzoary ; 

 immediately beloW the origin of this tube is an ovate avicularium. A small 

 patch of this species, consisting of a few cells only, in a very imperfect state, 

 which I had met with among the things procured in Shetland by Mr. Barlee, 

 -was sent by me some years ago to Professor Busk, who attached to them the 

 manuscript name Lcpralia tuhulosa, a title which the species may most 

 appropriately bear. There is also a new Escliava, and a few other species 

 were found 'which are additions to the very long list of Shetland Polyzoa 

 previously known to me. 



ECHINODEBMAT.i.. 



Among the Echinodermata the fact of Cidaris papillata and Spatangus 

 meridionalis having been dredged in considerable numbers, living in lOO-llO 

 fathoms, about thirty miles N.N.W. of Unst, is extremely interesting. The 

 Cidaris has never before been dredged in our seas, the few specimens known 

 having been obtained from fishermen's lines. We kept it alive for some 

 time, and found it to be remarkably sluggish in its movements. The Spa- 

 tangus was not known anywhere north of the Mediterranean until 1864, 

 when two specimens were obtained near the same spot in which it has this 

 year been met with in greater profusion. A second British specimen of 

 Arcliaster Parelii was found near the same spot as the species just referred to. 

 An Echmocardimn was dredged by Mr. M'Andrew many years ago on the 

 south side of Brcssay Island, Shetland, and described and figured in the 

 'Annals of Natural History' for 1857, under the name oi Ainphidohis fjih- 

 bosus of Agassiz. The species was dredged this year in St. Magnus Bay, and 

 I have seen a second specimen procured by Mr. D. Robertson in the Clyde 

 district, and a third found by jMr. Hodge on the Durham coast. It is most 

 certainij' not the Amphidetus fjihhosus of Agassiz, and I would propose to call 

 it Echinocardium pcnnatijidu»i, on account of the character of the pedicel- 

 lariae, which are very different from the same organs in E. ovatum, its nearest 

 ally, and remind us strongly of the form of fern leaves. 



COSLENTEEATA. 



Lastly, in briefly noticing the Coelenterata, it is worthy of mention that 

 Sfomphia Churchia\ Bulocern Tuedicr, and Pennatida phospliorea , the last in 

 most extraordinary profusion, were found in St. Magnus Bay, and that Ehizo- 

 cline areolata, Merona cornucopia;, and Dkoryne conferta, live in about 50 

 fathoms, five to seven miles off Balta. In company with these last were 

 thousands of a ZoantJius, which sometimes lives entirely free, at others coats 

 the shells of small univalve moUusca and then destroys their substance. This 

 Zoanthus is, I believe, the Z. incrustatus of Scandinavian writers, and I am 

 now perfectly satisfied that it is distinct from the Zoanthus Couchii, and 

 from a form, perhaps also distinct from Z. CoucJiii, which was found on this 



