ALCYONARIA. 7 
specimens in the collection with those obtained by the ‘Challenger, and consider 
they belong to the same species, although there are some points of difference between 
them. As in C. delicatula, there is no main stem in these specimens, the colony 
arising from a tangled mass of branches in a sponge. The main stem may have been 
lost, or a colony starting in a sponge may not need, and therefore not form, the stout 
supporting main stem; but in either case its absence in these specimens does not 
necessarily demand the constitution of a new specific group. 
In addition to the specimens referred to above, there are specimens from two other 
localities, which probably belong to this species. The localities given on the labels are : 
(1) off Erebus and Terror, 500 fathoms, January 22, 1902; (2) E. end of Barrier, 100 
fathoms, January 29, 1902. In neither case is any statement made as to the nature of 
the preservative used, but as in the first case the spicules are absent, and in the latter 
small and apparently corroded, I cannot but suspect that they were treated with picric 
acid before being transferred to spirit in the same manner as some of the specimens of 
Thouarella antarctica (p. 9) were preserved: The specimens resemble C. antarctica 
in the arrangement of the branches, in the size of the calices, and in the size of the 
internodes ; but they both differ from the other specimens of C. untarctica in the 
collection in having a well-defined main stem. The axis of this stem consists of nodes 
about 6 mm. in length, with a diameter of from 1 to L-5 mm. In the specimen from 
locality 2 the main stem is 160 mm. long, and the basal part, which is nearly devoid 
of ccenenchym, supports colonies of Cephalodiscus hodgsoni. 
CERATOISIS SPICATA. 
(Plate II, figs. 16, 17, 18.) 
Locality :—McMurdo Bay, February 8, 1902. 96 to 120 fathoms. 
The base is missing from the specimen, which is about 75 mm. in height. A main axis 
may be traced through the whole height, from which secondary branches arise quite 
irregularly on all sides. Notwithstanding this, however, by the bending of the secondary 
branches the colony becomes almost flabellate. The internodes both of the main axis and 
the branches are 12 to 20 mm. in length. At the base the diameter of the internodes 
is 1mm. The terminal internodes are not very delicate, being about 0°5 mm. in 
diameter where they join the last internode, but they come to a sharp point distally. 
The ccenenchym is thin. The calices are irregularly scattered, cylindrical in shape, 
about 2 mm. in height when full grown, and situated at distances of 1 to 2 mm. apart 
on the lower part of the branches, but clustered at their distal extremities. 
The calices are covered with an armature of overlapping scales, some of which are 
tri-radiate, others irregular in form (figs. 18b, ¢). Surrounding the crown there are two 
or three circlets of spicules, of which one ray projects as a very prominent spine 
(fig. 18a). The largest of these tri-radiate spicules are over 0'7 mm. in length, the 
spine being as much as 0°45 mm., and the other two rays 0°35 mm. in length. The 
other irregular spicules of the calices and the spicules that cover the ccenenchym are of 
