164 



PROF. W. A. HERDMAX ON FUXICULINA QUADRANGULAKIS 



now, in its preserved state, 62 inches in length, several others are about 

 5 feet, aud ^ve obtained a good many (at least 20) of -i feet or a little over. 



The Marshalls describe the upper part o£ the 

 colony as being "of an ivory-white colour," but 

 note that both Forbes and Wyville Thomson had 

 recorded it as being " rose-coloured.''^ Our speci- 

 mens when alive were certainly of a pale trans- 

 lucent rosy tint, and a few colonies that I 

 preserved in a 10 per cent, solution of formol 

 in sea-water have still (after four months) the 

 same beautiful colour and life-like appearance, 

 while those put into alcohol have become opaque 

 and vary from a creamy-white to yellowish-brown. 

 Fig. 1 shows a group of these preserved specimens. 

 The first British specimens were apparently 

 dredged in 1844, at this same locality, by 

 Mr. R. McAndrew from his yacht, and were 

 described by Prof. Edward Forbes in the ' Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History ' (vol. xiv.). 

 Sir Wyvillo Thomson, in ' The Depths of the Sea,' 

 records having dredged " Pavonari?e '^ { = Funi- 

 cidinci) from 100 fathoms in Raasay Sound, and 

 refers to their " pale lilac phosphorescence." He 

 remarks further that from the number of speci- 

 mens brought up at one haul " we had evidently 

 passed over a forest of them " ; and that is 

 exactly the impression that was produced upon 

 myself and upon my friend Mr. A. 0. Walker, 

 F.L.S., who was with me when we brought up 

 such quantities of living colonies in the Firth of 

 Lorn last August. It is probable that in our 

 bauls from the ' Runa ' we dredged through the 

 thickest of the plantation, while the Birmingham 

 naturalists in 1881 may possibly only have skirted 

 along its edge. I may add that in our hauls 

 most of the larger specimens were not actually 

 in the trawl-net (which contained quantities of 

 fine mud) , but were balanced across the front of 

 the frame (a 6-foot Agassiz trawl), and especially 

 in a large bunch at each end, in such a pre- 

 carious position that I had to go off in a punt 

 and pick them out by hand before allowing the net to be raised above the 



Funiculina quadrangnlaris 

 (Pallas), from a plioto- 

 graph. 



