NO. 1658. ALCYONARIA OF THE CALIFORISIIAN COAST— NUTTING. gg? 



Family ALCYONID.^. 



Genus ANTHOMASTUS. 



Colony a fleshy rounded head supported by a short thick stem 

 devoid of polyps; potyps large, scattered, and completely retractile; 

 zooids present, scattered between the large polyps. 



ANTHOMASTUS RITTERI Nutting> new species. 



Plate LXXXIV, fig. 3; Plate XC, fig. 2. 



Colony growing from a rounded, expanded, disk-shaped base; 

 stem short and stout, devoid of polyps; head flattened, mushroom- 

 shaped, kidney-shaped in longitudinal section. The stem is very 

 rugose in specimens in formalin, livid whitish in color, 52 mm. long, 

 22 mm. in longest median diameter. The head is 72 mm. long, 57 

 mm. broad, and 26 mm. deep. 



The large polyps are irregularly scattered over the entire head, 

 without any well-marked bare areas, although they are rather sparsely 

 distributed as a rule. The polyps have the body transversely and 

 longitudinally wrinkled; 9 mm. to base of tentacles; tentacles 8 mm. 

 long in specimens preserved in formalin. The polyps are com- 

 pletely retractile, but the verrucse do not close over the retracted 

 polyps, leaving sunken pits about 6 mm. in diameter. The younger 

 polyps are interspersed among the older, but there seems to be no 

 regular intergradation in size between old and young. In smaller 

 specimens, however, this is not the case. The body cavities run 

 down through the stem as in Renilla. 



The zooids are distributed densely over the entire surface of the 

 capitulum, covering it with their minute verrucse, giving a distinctly 

 granulated appearance to those portions not occupied by the polyps. 



The spicules are of three types: 1. Needle-like forms imbedded 

 in the surface of the capitulum- These are the most abundant. 2. 

 Bar-like forms which are thickly crowded in the polyp walls. 3. 

 Stars and double stars crowded on the surface of the capitulum 

 between the siphonozooids. The zooids are surrounded by tufts of 

 needle-like spicules. 



The color of the polyps is deep crimson red, the lower part of the 

 bodies lighter. The general surface of the capitulum is purplish 

 pink. The stem is livid. One of the naturalists on the Albatross 

 succinctly described the appearance of this species when he said 

 that it resembled "an early rose potato stuck fidl of red cloves." 



Type-specimen.— Csit. No. 25422, U.S.N.M., Albatross station 4415. 



Distribution. — Station 4415, NE. point Santa Barbara Island N- 

 89° W. 4.7 miles, 438 fathoms; Station 441^ SW. rock, Santa 

 Barbara Island, N. 8° E. 6.9 miles, 238 fathoms; Station 4423, 

 E. Point San Nicholas Island S. 6° W. 2.5 miles, 216-389 fathoms; 



