820 



ME. J. Y, JOHNSON ON THE 



[June 20 



if he had had a specimen of the true A. gracilis from Madeira 

 before him. Indeed he himself felt uncertain whether the course 

 he took was right, for he says he was " at a loss to understand 

 Grray's description," and added that it seemed " doubtful whether 

 this specimen (that from the West Indies) could be considered to 

 agree with Gray's definition of the species." 



Fig. 11. 



Antipathella gracilis, about i nat. size. 



An examination of specimens obtained at Madeira proves beyond 

 dispute that Gray's short description of A. gracilis applies to them ; 

 whilst a study of Brook's description of the West-Indian specimen 

 leads to the conclusion that the latter cannot belong to the same 

 species. I shall therefore proceed to give a fuller account of the 

 Madeirau form under Gray's name of gracilis; and then, rather than 

 leave the West-Indian specimen without a name, I shall repeat 

 Brook's description of it and assign to it the name of hroolci. In 

 this way I hope that the confusion surrounding the two forms 

 will be cleared away and the nomenclature settled once for all. 



Antipathella gracilis (Gray). — Corallum black, very slender, 

 arising from a small round flat base, sparingly and laxly branched 

 in one plane ; branches distant, elongate, straight, never confluent ; 

 ultimate branchlets setiform, tapering to a point, from 20 to 50 

 millim. long. The corallum is everywhere set with minute trian- 

 gular upright spines (Fig. III. 4, p. 823), those on the stem forming 

 about seven longitudinal rows. Polyps disposed in a series on one 

 side of the branches, separated by short intervals (fig. III. 5, p. 823). 



The corallum seldom exceeds 150 millim. (6 in.) in height and 

 has a spread of rather more. The thin base has usually a 

 diameter of about 6 millim. and the lower part of the stem is not 

 more than about 1*5 millim. in diameter. The branches make an 

 angle of 30° or 40° with the stem. This species seems to live 

 gregariously, as the dredge will sometimes bring up a quantity 

 of it. One specimen was found attached to an old individual of 



