20 BULLETIN OF THE 
calcareous joints of the branches are rather long and moderately slender, swol- 
len at the ends, distinctly and often strongly snleated; they usually have a 
rather large central tube. Horny joints very short, brown. Calicles large, 
long, cylindrical or nearly so, often enlarged distally; the margin is armed 
with eight large, stout, spinous spicula, not projecting very far, the free part 
nearly smooth; below the margin the sides are supported by large fusiform 
spicula, somewhat obliquely placed, and the exterior is covered almost entirely 
by small, oblong, flat, scale-like spicula, blunt at the ends and often narrowed 
in the middle; their length is about three times their breadth (Plate IV. 
Fig. 4a, b, c). 
The thin ccenenchyma is also composed mainly of these same scale-like forms, 
which entirely cover its surface in dry specimens. Some of these measured 
46 by .13, .83 by .10, .30 by .11, .30 by .10, .28 by .09, .25 by .10, .25 by .09, 
-23 by .10, .20 by .07, .18 by .07, .18 by .06 mm. They are minutely rough- 
ened by longitudinal lines which diverge toward the ends, where the edges 
are finely denticulated or serrate; many of them are also denticulate along 
the sides. 
The following specimens were dredged by the Blake, 1877-79. 
Station. Fathoms. Locality. Specimens. 
wo 805 Off Morro Light l 
1878-79. 
131 580 “ Santa Cruz 
190 542 “ Dominica 1 
266 461 “ Grenada 1 
Lepidisis vitrea Verritt, sp. nov. 
Mode of branching unknown. Axis slender; calcareous joints translucent, 
strongly fluted, and with a very large central tube, so large that the solid 
matter is reduced to a thin, fragile shell; horny joints short, pale yellow. 
Ceenenchyma very thin, with few, scattered, small, oblong or hour-glass-shaped 
spicula, and some fusiform ones. Calicles very much elongated, narrowed 
toward the base and expanded at the summit, which is armed with eight 
very sharp, much elongated, nearly smooth, glassy, fusiform spicula, which 
extend along the sides of the calicles nearly to the base. Other similar acute, 
fusiform spicula, mostly of smaller size, and only slightly roughened, cover the 
sides of the calicles; these are mostly straight and often extend the whole 
length otf the calicles; with these are long, slender, oblong spicula, with both 
ends blunt. 
Of this species only two fragments, without branches, have been seen. It is 
remarkable for the large size of the central tube of the axis, and also for the 
unusually long and sharp spicula that surround the summit of the calicles, as 
well as for the translucent and glassy appearance of both the spicula and axis. 
In the form of the calicles it most resembles Lepidisis caryophyllia. 
Station 222, in 422 fathoms, off St. Lucia, Blake Expedition, 1878-79. 
