127 



Records of preceding meeting read. 



Letters were read from Wm. Hulin of Rockford, III. ; and 

 Wm. Gray Brooks of Boston. 



F. W. Putnam read the following communication from. 

 A. E. Verrill of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ni 

 Cambridge : — 



Notice op a Primnoa from St. GeorCxE's Bank. 

 by a. e. verrill. 



A specimen of coral now in the collection of the Essex 

 Institute has been submitted to me for examination, by Mr. 

 P. W. Putnam. 



This was taken in one hundred fathoms of water, on St. 

 George's Bank, and presented by C. H. Pifield to the society, 

 Jan. 13th, 1862. It proves to be a genuine coral belonging 

 to the genus Primnoa, very much resembling and probably 

 identical with Primnoa lepadifera of the northern seas of 

 Europe. From the latter however it seems to differ some- 

 what in the more irregular branching and in the form of the 

 calcareous scales of the polyp cells, but these ditferences are 

 slight and may be merely peculiar to this specimen. In 

 order to ascertain its true specific characters we need addi- 

 tional specimens, and particularly some preserved in alcohol 

 with the polyp cells perfect. 



The specimen consists of several large branching stalks, 

 some of them upwards of two feet high, and an inch in 

 diameter, attached to a stone by large calcareous bases. 

 Part of the polyp cells still remain on the branches, although 

 they adhere but slightly when dry. The branches consist 

 of alternate concentric layei s of calcareous and horn-like 

 deposits ; the calcareous substance predominating at the 

 base of the stalks, while the smallest branches are almost 

 entirely composed of the horn-like matter. In this respect 

 it differs from the true Gorgonics, for among them the 

 axis is entirely horn-like. In many species of the genus 

 Plexaurea there is a large proportion of Carbonate of Lime 

 in the basal portion of the axis, while the upper parts are 



