THE GORGONIANS OF THE BRAZILIAN COAST. 387 



open, roundish or oval, but some are crescent-shaped or narrow slits; diameter 



about 0.5 mm. 



Color, in alcohol, deep yellowish brown; pale yellowi.-h brown when dry. 



The ccenenchyma is of moderate thickness, hard and firm; its surface is 

 minutely granular, due to small, short spicules, rather loosely attached. 



The larger spicules are irregular, stout, blunt, double-spindles and unequally 

 twinned spicules, all strongly warted. The regular and nearly regular cro . 

 are not numerous. They have rather long, often irregular, strongh waned 

 blunt or subacute rays. Triparted stout spicules also occur, and larger spindles, 

 with rough lateral outgrowths. Among the small external spindles are run ttes, 

 double-rosettes, double-heads, and small crosses. 



The larger double-spindles measure 0.45 X 0.18; club-spindles, 0.36 X 0.1' 



twin-spindles, 0.35 X 0.19; twin-cross, 0.41 X 0.26; crosses, 0.34 X 0.33; 0. S X 



0.24; 0.18 X 0.12; tripartite forms, 0.33 X 0.23; 0.32 X 0.1S; 0.26 X 0.20; 



double-clubs, 0.35 X 0.12; double-rosettes, 0.19 X 0.11; 0.18 X 0.1 ; rosettes, 



0.12 X 0.11 mm. 



Periperf Point, Bahia, Brazil. Coll. Richard Rathbun. Type, No. 4502, 



Yale Museum. 



Pleiaurella verrucosa Verrill, sp. nov. 



Plate XXXI, figure 4 (general figure of No. 4503, reduced). Plate XXXI 1, 

 figure 6 (part of a branch, enlarged). Plate XXXIV, figure 5 (spicules). Plate 

 XXXV, figures 13, 13a (transverse and tangential si ctions). 



Coral repeatedly dichotomously branched from close to the l>a> . In the 

 type the larger branches fork at four levels, producing twelve branchlcts. The 

 branches are rather long, terete or nearly so, but usually slightly enlarged at the 

 tips, which are obtusely rounded and smoothish. Elsewhere the surface is 

 pretty closely covered with low verruciform calicles, more regular than in most 



species of the genus. 



Total height of the type, 245 mm.; breadth, 100 mm.; length of longest 

 branches, 150 mm.; diameter in middle, 8 to 11 mm.; mostly about 10 mm. 



The calicles are rounded, dome-shaped, or sometimes almost hemispherical. 

 They are mostly nearly or quite in contact at their bases. Their apertures are 

 nearly all closed so as to show only a narrow slit; some are narrow elliptical or 

 ovate; a few are widely open, round or elliptical. In some places, near the base, 

 the calicles are contracted to nearly a level with the ccenenchyma. 



Diameter of calicles, about 2 mm. ; of open apertures, about 1 mm. 



The ccenenchyma is thick, fine-grained; its surface and that of the calicles 

 is nearly smooth, appearing very minutely granular under a lens, due to great 

 numbers of minute, short, rough spicules at the surface. 



The texture is compact and firm. In tangential sections the calicle-chambers 

 are about 1 mm. broad, rather crowded, separated by interstices often less than 

 their diameters. The tubules are larger than in most of the other species, very 



