1881.] THE SURVEY OF H.M.S. 'ALERT.' 45 



With regard to the fauna of the southern coasts of South America, 

 we have already, in the British Museum Catalogue of 1852-/5, 

 had considerable insight into it, thanks chiefly to the collections 

 brought home by Mr. Darwin ; and a statement of its richness in its 

 more equatorial parts has been placed on record by the late Dr. 

 Willimoes-Suhm in a preliminary Report ^ on the observations made 

 on the ' Challenger,' referring to dredgings made off the Brazils. 

 This latter statement is fully borne out by the contents of the 

 present valuable collection. A striking instance in point is that of a 

 haul taken at Victoria Bank, oft' Brazil, of which the Polyzoau contents 

 could be contained in a pill box, but which included seven species, 

 among them several of the relatively bulky species of the genus Celle- 

 pora, and a representative of a new genus. A few shreds of a thin 

 Fucus from Elizabeth Island in the Straits (6 fathoms depth) produced 

 no less than 99 colonies or portions of colonies, representing nine 

 species. In the new species assigned to Chaunosia, Busk, we have 

 the interesting case of a fellow being found to a species from across 

 the Atlantic at the opposite mainland, the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Species known as fossils have appeared in the shape of Cellepora 

 tubigera, Busk (already known from European seas), and the beauti- 

 ful Discopoi'ella grignonensis, Busk, not previously known in the 

 recent state. 



One species (a new one) belongs to the Endoprocta (Pef?ice//??««) , 

 none to the Ctenostomata ; six to the Cyclostomata (of which three 

 are Tiibuliporce, one a Discoporella, one a Diastopora, one an Icl- 

 monea). Of the Chilostomata but one species of the Articulata 

 (Busk, Cat. Mus. Brit.) occurs ; the rest, numbering 25 species, 

 belong exclusively to the generally more highly calcified group 

 Inarticulata (Busk, /. c). This is rather striking, considering the 

 abundance in which the Catenicellidce and kindred forms occur off 

 Australia ; but it serves to draw attention to the fact that t\ie fades 

 of the fauna is Atlantic rather than Australian or Novo-Zelandian. 



Chi lostom ATA. 

 Can DA? sp. 



A few badly preserved fragments from Victoria Bank^, off S.E. 

 Brazil, 39 fms. 



Chaunosia fragilis, sp. n. (Plate VI. fig. 1.) 

 Chaunosia, Busk, Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. (n. s.) vii. p. 241. 

 Zoarium horny, with the exception of the calcareous distal portion 

 of the spines. Zooecia erect, distinct, crowded, each standing at the 

 junction of four uniting branches of the tubular stolon, which is their 

 only point of attachment ; somewhat convex behind and at the sides, 

 straight in front, where they appear to he open by a space of about 

 three fourths of the breadth of the front of the cell ; tapering 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. xxiv. p. 572. 



2 Not marked in the usual maps ; its position is lat. 20° 42' S., loug. 

 370 27' W. 



