[9] ALBATROSS EXPLORATIONS. F)) ] 



lenger " off Buenos Ay res. A. Murrayi K. was first taken by the " Chal- 

 lenger" oft' Nova Scotia. The "Albatross" dredged it in 640 to 1,362 

 fafhoms. Other tall, wand-like species are Funiculina armata V., which 

 is very slender, and Balticina Finmarchica, fig. 11. The latter frequently 

 grows to the length of a yard and is about an inch in diameter. Many 

 of the specimens have the round, stony axis stripj^ed bare at the end, 

 and sometimes in other places, for a longer or shorter distance, by acci- 

 dental injuries. Nearly always these naked places are occupied by a 

 peculiar species of Actinian {Actinauge nexilu V., fig. 22), which starts 

 like ordinary young Actinians, with a flat base, but the sides of the base 

 spread out thin and wrap around the axis of the coral till they meet on 

 opposite sides, when they coalesce by a firm suture, inclosing the coral 

 in a sort of tube or sheath, and when several of them start near to- 

 gether their bases mutually coalesce where they come in contact, thus 

 forming a continuous covering over the dead coral. This Actinian 

 grows to a rather large size, and the weight of a cluster, often of five or 

 six, and in one case nine, at the top of the tall, slender ax'is causes it to 

 bend over, so that they are pendulous on the nodding summit of the 

 coral. By certain writers this denuded condition of the axis of this 

 species has been supposed to be normal, or at least constant, but I have 

 seen numerous specimens that are perfect to the tip. Several other 

 deep-sea Actinians from this region have the same habit of growth, in- 

 closing the denuded axis of various species of Gorgonians. One of the 

 most abundant of these is Sagartia Acanellw V., fig. 25, which thus in- 

 closes denuded portions of the bush-coral, Acanella Rormani. It has 

 the same o-range or salmon color as the coral on which it lives. 



The Gorgonacea or " bush corals," are well represented, at great 

 depths, by several handsome species, some of them 2 or 3 feet high, and 

 nearly all belonging to genera that are peculiar to the deep sea, for 

 which they are specially adapted by a peculiar modification of the base, 

 which divides into a number of divergent, root-like branches, sometimes 

 becoming much divided and slender, but more commonly flat and irreg- 

 ular. These penetrate, like roots, into the soft mud and thus give a 

 secure anchorage on bottoms where no solid foundation could be had 

 for species that adhere only to solid objects by a flat expansion of the 

 base, as in nearly all shallow- water species. The root-like base is char- 

 acteristic of the genera Acanella, Leyidisis, Dasygorgia and Lepidogor- 

 gia found in our region, and of many others found elsewhere in deep- 

 sea dredging. Most of these corals are orange, orange-red, or salmon- 

 color in life, some of them varying to red or to orange-brown. One of 

 the most elegant of these, dredged in 1,346 to 1,362 fathoms, is Dasygor 

 gia Agassizii Y., first discovered by the " Blake." It is a plumose, much 

 branched coral, with the terminal twigs very slender, while the main 

 branches are spirally arranged. Its axis is slender, calcareous, and 

 iridescent, and its root-like base is divided into short, flat, irregular 

 branches. Its polyps are prominent, relatively large, rather far apart, 



