288 



4. SUBERGORGIA. 



Subergorgia, Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 159. 



Coral branched, forked, rather fan-shaped. Axis compressed, 

 continuous, opake, calcareous, cork-like, formed of rather loose 

 laminae. Bark when dry granular, with a distinct impressed groove 

 on each side of the stem and branches. Polypiferous cells rather 

 prominent, simple, in two or three series on each edge of the stems 

 and branches. 



* The stem subquadrate ; lateral groove deep, broad ; cell rather 



tubercular. 



1. Subergorgia suberosa. B.M. 



Gorgonia suberosa, Pallas (not Solander) ; Esper, t. 49 ; Ellis, 

 Coral, t. 26. f. P. Q. 



Gorgonia sulcifera, Lamk. 



Pterogorgia sulcifera, Dana, no. 16. 



Subergorgia suberosa, Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 159. 



Branches gradually attenuated, virgate, straight, rarely anasto- 

 mosing. 



** The stem compressed, broad lateral grooves, narrow; cells 

 scarcely prominent. 



2. Subergorgia compressa. B.M. 

 The branches slender, diverging, arched. 



5. Scirpearia. 



Scirpearia, Cuvier, 1817. 

 Funiculina, sp., Lamk. 1816. 



Coral slender (simple or subsimple), rod-like. Axis slender, cylin- 

 drical, hair-like, solid, white, calcareous, attached by a broad base. 

 Bark (when dry) thin, smooth, granular, with a series of subcylin- 

 drical polypiferous cells placed alternately on each side of the stem. 



1. Scirpearia mirabilis. B.M. 



Scirpearia mirabilis, Cuvier, Schweiger, Beob. t. 2. f. 13. 



Pennatula mirabilis, Pallas. 



Polypus mirabilis, Linn. Mus. Adolph. t. 19. f. 4. 



Funiculina cylindrica, Lamk. (not synonyms). 



Pavonaria scirpea, Blainv. 



St. Vincent's, West Indies. 



See Funiculina mediterranea, Risso, Eur. Merid. v. 365. 



Linnaeus figures the coral as free, and furnished with polypiferous 

 cells the whole of its length and with attenuated ends. Schweiger 

 figures the coral as free, with a thicker naked turned-up base, like 

 Pennatula, with which he arranges it ; but I am informed that in 

 the Berlin Museum the specimen is attached to a rock by an ex- 



