ALCYONARIA. ll 
in due course, that there was a great deal of excuse for my original mistake. I wish 
to express my thanks to Dr. Versluys for his very valuable advice and assistance in 
defining the position of this species. 
The genus Primnoella is usually defined as simple or unbranched, but as 
Versluys (13) has shown that Narella divaricata of Studer must be transferred to 
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the genus Primnoella, and this species is “ spirlich verzweigt” (Studer 10, p. 643), 
the branching habit of our new species is not quite exceptional. 
The branching is irregular and approximately in one plane, so that a large 
colony would probably be flabelliform. Some of the branches appear to divide 
dichotomously, but in general the smaller secondary branches arise alternately from 
the large main branches. The colony as a whole has some general resemblance in 
its mode of branching to a species of Culigorgia, figured by Gray (1, p. 37) under the 
name Callicella elegans, and to Caligorgia tuberculata, as figured by Versluys (13, pl. vi., 
fig. 15). About one-third of the colony is devoid of ccenenchym and calices. 
The number of calices in a whorl varies. On the largest branches there are 
eight or nine; on the terminal branches from six to four. On the thicker branches 
the whorls are in places scattered, and there are some calices isolated. On the terminal 
branches the whorls are about 1 mm. apart. 
The calices are 1 mm. in height, and. many of them show a swelling on the axial 
side, due to the presence of a gonad. They are protected by three or four rows of five 
or six scales, which often overlap when the calyx is dried, but in spirit specimens, and 
frequently when dried, appear to be separated by considerable intervals of skin, as 
shown in fig. 8. The opercular scales are very small, and the next circle of scales, 
called by Versluys the “ Randschuppen,” or marginal scales of the calyx, are not much 
larger, but do not overlap the opercular scales. The opercular scales are usually 
provided with a short spine, fig. 9, but the marginal scales are rarely, and the other 
scales of the calyx never pointed in this way. The opercular scales are about 
0°3 x 0°1 mm.,, and the other scales about 0°5 x 0°3 mm. in size; but they vary 
a great deal in size, according to their position. — 
As in other species of Primnoella the ceenenchym is protected by an armature of 
overlapping scales, but these are exceptional in being irregular in arrangement, and 
they are not provided with a dentate margin (fig. 10). These scales are usually nearly 
square in shape, with rounded edges, and may reach a size of 0°5 mm. across 
diagonally. The surface of each scale is ornamented by a series of small tubercles as in 
Primnoella. Underneath the scales there are rows of small spicules or ‘ 
about 0°1 mm. in length, very similar to those drawn by Versluys for Primnoella 
australasiz (13, fig. 60, p. 53). 
The axis is horny, but contains a considerable amount of calcium carbonate. 
The species is related to Primnoella in the following characters. The scales are 
thin and covered with small tubercles, but not sculptured nor marked by prominent 
lines extending from the nucleus to the margin. The scales of the ccenenchym overlap. 
2B 2 
‘ sclerites ” 
