[X.] 



THE ALCYONARIA. 



Part I. 



BY THOMAS WHITELEGGE, 

 Zoologist, Australian Museum. 



THE Alcyonaria collected at the Ellice Group by Mr. 0. Hedley, 

 prove to be of more than ordinary interest, inasmuch as the 

 Collection now dealt with includes four new species, and many 

 rare or but little known forms. 



There are three species of the genus Sarcophytum, one of which 

 was originally described by Dana as Alcyonium latum, from Fiji ; 

 herein it is referred to the genus Sarcophytum, to which it 

 undoubtedly belongs. 



The genus Lobophytum is represented by six or seven species ; 

 two are described as new, and four others have been re-described 

 and illustrated, with a view to aid in their determination in the 

 future. 



In dealing with the species described by the earlier authors, 

 there is a considerable amount of doubt as to their specific 

 identity, from the fact that the characters afforded by the spicules 

 have generally been ignored, and only the external features 

 given. In such cases 1 have thought it better to accept the 

 species, when they agreed fairly well with the descriptions, 

 rather than describe them as new. 



Under this category are included Alcyonium tuberculosum, 

 Q. & G., A. confertum, Dana, and A. viride, Q. & G. The latter 

 appears to differ greatly from the other species under notice, and 

 Studer refers it to the genus Lobularia in his account of the 

 Alcyonaria of S.M.S. " Gazelle."* Judging by the spicules 

 alone, the species herein enumerated and referred to the genus 

 Lobophytum are very heterogeneous, -displaying great variation 

 in the size and also in the tuberculation of the larger spicules ; 

 the tubercles are not in whorls but are irregularly scattered, this 

 is so in L. tuberculosum, L. confertum, and L. densum, which in 

 this respect are closely allied to L. marenzelleri, and also in the size 

 of the siphonozooids, which are minute and almost rudimentary. 



*Monateb. Akad. Wisg. Berlin, 1878, p. 634. 



