NO. 1624. DESCRIPTIONS OF HAWAIIAN ALCYONAEIA— NUTTING. 595 



polyps so that their form is difficult to ascertain. They do not 

 appear to be retractile. 



Spicules long or needle-like, or bar-shaped, sometimes slightly 

 branched; arranged vertically in body walls, where they are thickly 

 packed, and distally forming eight broad longitudinal bands ending 

 at points between the tentacle bases. The tentacular spicules are 

 longitudinal. 



Zooids are rather sparsely scattered over the upper sides of the 

 branches. 



Tyjje.— Cat. No. 25359, U.S.N.M., Albatross Station 4019, near 

 Kauai Islands, 405-550 fathoms. 



The close helix into which the stem is coiled, together with the 

 very stiff and wiry texture, are the chief diagnostic features of this 

 species. 



IRIDOGORGIA SUPERBA, new species. 

 Plate XLVI, fig. 5 ; plate L, fig. 2. 



Two pieces of an incomplete specimen measured, together, 5 feet 

 4 inch. Main stem stout, brittle, straight on all but distal portion 

 where it becomes wavy; its whole length marked by the regular 

 branch origins arranged in a spiral, or helix. In the proximal part 

 each turn of the helix, measured vertically, is 17 mm., in the distal part 

 it is 24 mm. The adjacent branch origins are 2 to 3 mm. apart. There 

 are a few scattered polyps on the stem. The branches are slender, un- 

 branched and gracefully curved, 125 to 175 mm. in length. 



Polyps unilateral in arrangement, on the upper sides of the 

 branches, 5 to 6 mm. apart, arising from a long swelling basal por- 

 tion which is parallel to the axis of the stem. Above this swelling the 

 body is short and stout, bearing very long, nonretractile tentacles. 

 Length of basal swelling, 2-J mm. ; height, 1 mm. Diameter of body 

 above basal swelling, 1| mm. ; height, 1 mm. ; length of longest ten- 

 tacle (in alcohol), 6 mm. 



Zooids are distributed in groups along the branches, sometimes 

 being aggregated near the polyp bases. 



The spicules are remarkably uniform in size and shape, being in 

 the form of rather slender smooth bars with rounded ends, somewhat 

 constricted in the middle. They are found longitudinally disposed 

 in the cortex of the branches, and transversely disposed in the ex- 

 panded bases of the polyps. The remainder of the polyps and the 

 tentacles appear to be without spicules. 



The color of the main stem is grayish yellow ; branches and polyps 

 bright corn j^ellow. The iridescence of the exposed axis is brilliant 

 green. 



Type.—CAt. No. 2i:316, U.S.N.M., Albatross Station 3989, off Kauai, 

 385-500 fathoms. 



