ALCYONARIA. 3) 
ALCYONIUM PAESSLERI. 
(Plate IL, figs. 22, 28.) 
Aleyonium paessleri, May, Hamb. Magel. Samm., Aleyon. (1899), p. 6. 
Localities :—1. Off Mt. Erebus, February 8, 1902. 100 fathoms. 
2. W.Q., June 5, 1902. D. net hole. 56 fathoms. 
3. W.Q., June 15, 1902. D. net hole. 123 fathoms. 
4, W.Q., April 1, 1903. No.6 hole. 124 fathoms. 
5. W.Q., February 13, 1904. D. net, Hut Point. 
In addition to the specimens from the localities mentioned above several small 
specimens were found in other bottles. It is evidently a common and widely distributed 
species ranging from shallow water to depths of over 100 fathoms. 
The largest specimen was from locality 5 (Plate II., fig. 22). The colony is 
50 mm. in height and 30 mm. in greatest breadth. It rises from a base of attachment 
of irregular form with a maximum width of 15 mm. There are 13 blunt lobes, of 
which the largest is 15 mm. X 7 mm. The anthocodiz of this specimen were nearly 
all completely retracted. 
The spicules of the anthocodiz (of -a specimen from loc. 3) are long spindles 
0°35 mm. in length (Plate II., fig. 23b), and the spicules of the ccenenchym of the 
same specimen, clubs or short spindles *08-0°1 mm. in length (fig. 23a), as well as a 
number of longer spindles of variable size attaining to the same length as those of the 
anthocodiz. The two specimens from locality 3 are attached to a black stone, the 
specimens from localities 1 and 5 had their bases bent round the very slender stem of 
a dead Ceratoisis (Primnoisis). The colour of all the specimens is orange or pale 
orange, except the specimen from locality 4, which is white. The smaller specimens 
are not branched. The specimen from locality 4 consists of a single lobe 10 mm. in 
height by 6 mm. in diameter. 
I have compared the specimens with a specimen obtained by the ‘Southern 
Cross’ Expedition in 24 fathoms off Franklin Island (3). They cannot, I think, 
be separated from the specimens of the species described by Dr. May (8) from 
Smyth Sound. 
The species of the genus Aleyonium that have been described from Antarctic regions 
are A. sollasi, from the Straits of Magellan (‘Challenger’), A. haddon’, Messier Channel 
(‘Challenger’) and A. antarcticum, off Heard Island (‘ Challenger’), and’ from Kerguelen 
(Studer). It is difficult to give any very precise characters to differentiate these three 
species from Alcyonium paessleri, but it is probable that A. antarcticum and A. sollasi 
are larger species, the largest specimen of A. paessleri being considerably smaller than 
the type specimens of the other two species. Alcyoniwm haddoni may be of the same size 
as A. paessleri, but some of the long spindles are ‘7 mm. in length, about twice the 
size of any that I found in the specimens at my disposal, and the species is also 
WEIN 
