332 PEOFESSOK P. M. DUNCAN ON THE 



LoPHOHELiA PEOLiFERA, Pallas, sp. (Plate XLII. figs. 1, 2.) 



Variety gracilis. 

 Syn. Lophohelia gracilis, Seguenza. 



The fossil coral Lophohelia gracilis described by Seguenza^ and associated by him 

 with two varieties (a striata and /3 latistella), is represented by numerous living forms 

 in deep sea (554 fathoms) to the west of the promontory of Tangier (No. 33). 



The specimens I have had the advantage of examining from the dredgings are so 

 numerous that I have been able to study their range of variation. It is evident that 

 the delicate form gracilis is connected by intermediate ones with the dwarfed and then 

 with the large Lophohelia prolifera. The pretty little type must then be considered 

 a race or subspecies ; and doubtless, when dredging operations are finished to the 

 south of the Straits of Gibraltar, it will be found to replace the great Lophohelia of 

 the north. 



The variation of the corallites on the same corallum is very great. 



Family OculinidSB. 



Subfamily Stylastkace^e. 



Genus Stylastee. 

 Sttlastee gemmascens, Esper, sp. (Plate XLIX. figs. 1-6, 8-10, 13-15.) 



" The corallum is subflabelliform. The branches often coalesce ; and the younger are 

 crowded with small granulations, which are irregularly placed between the calices. 

 The old branches are almost smooth. The calices are alternate on young branches, 

 and sparingly developed on the old; they are circular, oval, or deformed, and have 

 projecting margins. There are from twelve to sixteen septa, which are often irregular." 



This is the diagnosis which is given by Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime''; and it 

 accords closely with that characteristic of several specimens which were dredged up in 

 the first expedition of the ' Porcupine,' and also in the previous expedition of the 

 'Lightning.' The specimens from the 'Porcupine' collection came from No. 54 

 dredging, at a depth of 530 fathoms. I considered the specimens to belong to the 

 genus Allopora ; but a reexamination of them, in which I have been greatly assisted by 

 Mr. Kent, of the British Museum, determines me to associate them with the species 

 just described. The type of the species came from the Indian Ocean ; and the North- 

 Atlantic forms are as well developed as those somewhat roughly drawn by Esper. 



' Seguenza, Mem. della Eeale Accad. di Torino, t. xxii. serie 2, p. 493. 

 ' Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 131. 



