PROF. THOMSON AND MR. McQUEEN—-REPORT ON THE ALCYONARIANS. 67 
thicker branches they occur practically all over. They stand out somewhat 
prominently to a height of about 0°5 mm., and appear as widely open crater- 
like elevations or as rounded hillocks according to the state of contraction. 
The whole surface of the colony is seen under the lens to be rough with 
spindle-shaped spicules, all of a red colour. 
The spicules of the coonenchyma are: (1) substantial tuberculate spindles, of 
which the following measurements were taken :—0°3 x 0:07, 0°27 x 6:09 mm. 
The tubercles are large and blunt. In some cases the ends of the spindles 
are irregularly bifid. There are also some slender curved tuberculate spindles. 
(2) Short compact fusiform types covered with numerous blunt tubercles: 
)124x0°05 mm. (3) Club-shaped forms or “ Stachelkeulen ” with irre- 
gularly shaped tuberculate heads. From these through torch-like forms there 
are transitions to irregular spindles. The clubs are frequently 0°23 mm. in 
length by 0:1 mm. in breadth across the head. In the polyps there are minute 
and slender red spindles, besides a number of minute slightly tuberculate 
curved rodlets which are practically colourless. For both of these types a 
common length is 0:04 mm. The aboral surface of the tentacles bears about 
5 large red spicules arranged in chevron. The axis shows longitudinal canals. 
Locality.—From the sides of a buoy in Suez Bay, and on the coral-reef of 
Engineer Island, Khor Dongola. 
MELITODES SPLENDENS, n. sp. (Plate 7. figs. 1 & 2.) 
Numerous broken pieces of a bright orange-red Melitodid. They seem to 
represent several colonies. The nature of the spicules and the presence of 
longitudinal canals in the axis indicate the genus Melitodes, but we have not 
been able to refer the specimens to any of the numerous previously described 
species. 
One of the pieces has a breadth of 6 mm. across an internode about 3 em. 
above the base, while a node about the same height has a breadth of 9 mm. 
The length of the internode at this level is 11 mm., and towards the base of 
the colony the internodes have an average length of about 12 mm. The 
branching is profuse, with many anastomoses, but is mainly confined to one 
plane. An attempted reconstruction of the broken specimens leads one to 
infer that the colonies may have been about 25 cm. in height. The terminal 
branches are about 1 mm. in thickness. 
The verrucee are almost confined to one surface of the branches. They are 
somewhat scattered on the basal parts, but towards the ends their bases are 
in contact. They are slightly flattened hemispheres. The retracted polyp 
is just seen as a whitish spot on the top of the verruca. 
The axis shows numerous longitudinal canals in the nodes and internodes. 
A thin section through a thick internode showed about ten. On the surface 
of the axis there is external fluting corresponding to the course of the canals 
in the coenenchyma. 
