120 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
Discosoma Malu, n. sp. 
Form.—Column, soft, massive; upper portion with large 
suckers, to which pieces of shell often adhere; a slight but dis- 
tinct crenulated parapet ; oral disc of much greater diameter than 
column, and thrown into folds; mouth round, with two well- 
marked gonidial grooves; tentacles very numerous, contractile, 
may be reduced to mere filaments—those of the outermost 
row in two cycles, large, and of the same size; the centripetal 
tentacles appear to arise anywhere on the disc, they usually occur 
in short radial rows, of these the tentacle situated nearest to the 
mouth is the largest. 
Colour.— Whole body pale creamy yellow ; the tentacles shade 
off into pink, and have rosy-red tips. 
Dimensions. —Column about 100 mm. high; about 750 mm. in 
diameter ; diameter of corona, over 160 mm.; length of tentacles, 
11mm. 
Habitat.—(Of single specimen) surface of reef, Mer, February 
14, 1889. 
We name this species after the hero Malu, about whom there 
is a legend which evidently embodies the traditional history of the 
origin of a portion at least of the ancient initiation ceremonies 
of Mer. (Cf. “ Legends from Torres Straits,’ Folk-lore 1. 1890, 
p. 181.) 
Discosoma macrodactylum, n. sp. 
Form.—Salver-shaped, owing to the great expansion of the 
oral disc, with numerous large suckers on upper portion of column ; 
the long and very contractile tentacles are placed in well-marked 
linear series, their tips are perforated; mouth with two gonidial 
grooves. 
Colour.—Column, olive-brown, darker above, with pale spots 
on upper portion; disc, pinkish gray, peripherally passing into 
pale olive green, which shades into olive brown round the mouth; 
cesophagus, delicate pink; tentacles, dove-gray, with a yellowish 
sheen, which is most marked at the tip. 
Dimensions.—Diameter of disc, 250-300 mm. or more; mouth, 
25mm, x 57 mm.; tentacles, 40 mm. or more in length. 
