MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 33 
strongly and sharply spinulated over the whole surface (Fig. 2 b, g). Some of 
these measured 1.52 by .10, 1.52 by .07, 1.28 by .07, .90 by .05 mm. 
In the flexible part of the polyps and the bases of the tentacles there is an 
abundance of long, fusiform, more or less curved, and strongly spinulated spic- 
ula, mostly acute at both ends, and moderately slender, but some of them are 
much stouter in form, and many are enlarged, flattened, and somewhat lacer- 
ately spinulated at one end ; some compound forms also occur, but these also 
take an irregularly fusiform shape. Some of the curved ones, surrounding the 
polyp-body , measured .86 by .05, .86 by .038, 76 by .07 mm. ; the straighter 
ones, .80 by .10,.80 by .07,.76 by .07, .71 by .07, .70 by .05, .62 by .05, .62 
by .038 mm. 
Three specimens, of moderate size, and partly overgrown by sponges, were 
taken by the Blake, at station 309, off Nantucket, in 304 fathoms. To these 
were also attached Astrochele Lymani ; Ophiacantha ; Pecten vitreus ; a hand- 
some Scalpellum ; and the fresh eggs of a black dog-fish (Scylliwm). Another 
example, from station 306, in 524 fathoms, had similar things attached. 
It was dredged by the J. S. Fish Commission, in 1882, off Martha’s Vine- 
yard, in 640 fathoms. 
Several fine specimens have been brought from the deep fishing banks off 
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland by the Gloucester fishermen, during the past 
four years, and presented to the U. S. Fish Commission. 
The first specimen was taken off Nova Scotia, in 300 fathoms, by Captain T. 
Goodwin (schooner ‘‘ Elisha Crowell”). The second specimen was obtained off 
George’s Bank, in about 220 fathoms, by Captain Anderson and crew of the 
schooner ‘* Alice G. Wonson.” 
The following specimens were dredged by the Blake in 1880 : — 
Station. Fathoms. N. Lat. W. Long. Specimens. 
306 524 41° 32’ 50” 65° 55! 1 medium. 
309 304 40° 11’ 40” 68° 22/ oe 
The typical species of this genus, A. hirsuta Gray, was obtained in deep 
water, off Madeira. It is closely related to A. armata. 
Two species closely allied to these were dredged in deep water, in the West 
Indian seas, by the Blake, in 1878-79. One of these, A. aspera, was de- 
scribed by Pourtalés, in 1867. 
Acanthogorgia aspera PourTALeEs. 
Acanthogorgia aspera PourTALES, Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zodl., I., 1867, p. 113. 
The original specimen of this species, described by Pourtalés, is small and 
slender, and probably young ; several unequal, widely divergent branches are 
given off laterally from the main stem, which also bears isolated calicles along 
the edges between the branches ; some of the branches begin to divide in the 
same manner. Axis brownish yellow. Ccnenchyma thin, filled with acute 
VOL. XI. —No. 1. 3 
