WITHIN THE GENUS DENORONEPHTHYA. 



73 



Descriptive Notes : — 



1. Colony as a lohole. Yeiy handsome umbellate colony with 

 profuse root-work ; hardlj^ visible sterile stalk ; much branched 

 and, in its general aspect, distinctly flattened polyparium. It is 

 32 cm. in maximum height and 40 cm. in maximum breadth, 

 with an approximate thickness of. 6 cm. The contour of the 

 whole colony is markedly interi'upted. 



2. Branching. There is a general division into three strong 

 branches each of which tends to lose the flattened aspect, 

 broadening out into an exuberant corymbose head. The polyp- 

 bearing twigs are distinct umbels. There are no definite large 

 hemispherical bunches. Large areas on the branches are bare 

 and exposed. The basal branches are foliaceous, but do not form 

 a complete circle. The main branches give off numerous second- 

 ary and tertiary branches, which eventually break up in fairly 

 regular dichotomy into minor corymbs which bring the crowded 

 polyps more or less up to one level. 



3. Colouring. The exposed areas on the branches are covered 

 with irregularly scattered spindles, visible to the naked eye and 

 giving the surface a glistening white appearance. On the twigs 

 are large orange and crimson spindles, standing out conspicu- 

 ously against the general white of the cortex. There seems to be 

 no regularity in the distribution of the two colours, except that 

 any one group of twigs is either orange or crimson. The 

 supporting bundles are also either orange or crimson, but the 

 polyp spicules are white. 



Text-fi^. 27. 



Text-fii;-. 2^ 



D. annectens, sp. n. 



D. annectens, sp. n., ensheatliing typp of 

 support iug bundle : seeu from below. 



4. Polyp stalks are very short. 



5. Polyps. The polyps themselves occur in small bundles of 

 7-12, and the stalk of each bundle is long. 



6. Polyp spicules. The anthocodial armature consists of about 

 8 pairs of spicules en chevron on each of the eight points, all 

 practically of the same size, about 0-13 mm. Below the point 



