MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 21 
Family CHRYSOGORGIDZ Verritt, nov. 
Coral variously branched, the branches most commonly taking a spiral ar- 
rangement. Axis partially calcareous, generally with a brilliant iridescence 
and metallic lustre. Base, in most of the species where it has been observed, 
calcareous, and divided into irregular, divergent, root-like processes for anchor- 
ing in the mud, but in some species it is flattened and adherent to pebbles. 
Usually the hard, white calcareous base is sharply contrasted with the axis of 
the stem. The calicles are prominent, scattered along the branches, either 
standing at right angles or obliquely; they are covered with moderately large 
elongated or flat spicula, and are usually eight-lobed at the summit. Ccen- 
enchyma very thin, with oblong or elongated spicula. 
This family includes some of the most beautiful and interesting of all the 
known Gorgonians. These species are remarkable both for the elegance of the 
forms in which they grow, and for the brilliant lustre and opaline and irides- 
cent colors of the axis, which in some species has the bright emerald-green 
lustre of the most brilliant tropical beetles, and in others is like burnished 
gold or polished mother-of-pearl. 
The known species are all inhabitants of deep water, anel all are from the 
West Indian seas, except Dasygorgia Agassizii, which occurs off the New Eng- 
land coast. The observed species can be referred to the following genera. 
A. Much branched, often spirally; the branches repeatedly forking. 
Chrysogorgia. Calicles elongated, often narrowed near the base, covered with 
rather long rough spicula, which are more or less transverse over the basal 
half, and curved to fit the surface. Spicula of the ceenenchyma elongated 
or fusiform, warted. 
Dasygorgia. Calicles obliquely placed on the branches, swollen at base, cov- 
ered with flat, oblong spicula, which are arranged longitudinally or ob- 
liquely. Spicula of the coenenchyma oblong or scale-like, nearly smooth. 
AA. Azxis forming a spiral or helix, with slender undivided branches, in a single 
spiral row. 
Iridogorgia. Calicles verruciform, with swollen bases extending along the 
branches, filled with slender elongated spicula, obliquely and transversely 
arranged. Spicula of the ceenenchyma similar. Surface of caenenchyma 
with peculiar soft verruce. 
Although but one species (Dasygorgia Agassizii) has been found on our coast 
north of Florida, I have included here some of the West Indian forms for the 
sake of comparison, and more fully to illustrate the characters of this hitherto 
imperfectly known group. 
This family is related, in several respects, to Primnoide, especially to Calli- 
gorgia and allied genera, which are likewise chiefly found in deep water, and 
some of which have the axis similar in structure and lustre. In the latter 
group, however, the calicles are differently constructed, and the spicula be- 
