23 BULLETIN OF THE 
come genuine scales. The sharp distinction between the calcareous base and 
the more horny stem, above, indicates, perhaps, some relationship with the 
Isidee. 
Dasygorgia Agassizii VerRRILL, sp. nov. 
Plate Il. Figs. 4,4 a, 4b. 
Two specimens of this elegant species were taken off George’s Bank, at Sta- 
tion 308, in 1,242 fathoms, N. Lat. 41° 24’ 45”, W. Long. 65° 35’ 30’. 
The larger specimen, broken at both ends, is about 225 mm. high; the stem 
is about 2.5 mm. in diameter at base, while the slender side branchlets are 40 
to 60 mm. long, and exceedingly slender and hair-like. Toward the base there 
were a few larger branches, only one of which remains. Along the main stem, 
which is a little bent in zigzag, the side branchlets are numerous and close, 
and spread nearly at right angles, ascending a little at their bases; they are 
arranged somewhat alternately, but form five rows along the stem, or, in other 
words, every sixth one lies in nearly the same vertical plane; the vertical dis- 
tance between successive branches is about 2 mm., and between every sixth, 
in the same line, from 10 to 12 mm. 
The branchlets are two or three times forked; the first fork is 3 to 4 mm. 
from the axil; each branch usually again divides 3 to 5 mm. from the first 
forking; after this the forking is unequal, some of the divisions remaining 
simple, others dividing; the ultimate branchlets are exceeding delicate and 
hair-like, and have a tendency to le in horizontal planes. The axis of the 
main stem is round, not grooved, smooth and lustrous, with a bright, bronze- 
like lustre and light yellow color; that of the branchlets is pale amber-color, 
and translucent; the axis is largely horny, and can be easily cut with a knife, 
but it effervesces in acids. At the base the nature and color of the axis ab- 
ruptly change, the basal expansion and root-like processes being ivory-white 
and stony. In our examples the base divides into several long, divergent, 
irregular, palmate, flattened processes, for anchoring the coral in the mud. 
The calicles are few, prominent, oblique, rather distantly scattered along the 
sides of the branchlets, which they often exceed in diameter; they are mostly 
obliquely set, their summits being directed upward and outward, while the 
basal portion is larger, swollen, and more horizontal along the branchlets; the 
summit is conspicuously eight-lobed, and the tentacles are not entirely retrac- 
tile, their bases showing as eight convergent, spiculose lobes; the sides of the 
calicles are covered with slender, oblong, flat spicula, which are mostly parallel 
with the calicle on the lower half, but near the bases of the tentacles become 
more or less oblique. 
The spicula of the calicles (Fig. 4b, c, @) are mostly small, flattened, slender, 
oblong; often with nearly parallel sides, but mostly narrower in the middle, 
bluntly rounded at the ends, the surfarce finely striated; some of these meas- 
ured .18 by .05, .16 by .05, .16 by .04, .15 by .05, .13 by .04mm. Toward 
the apex of the calicles and in the bases of the tentacles, there are many acute 
