214 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



The Nephthyidce are represented by two species of Spongodes, 

 one S. pallida being regarded as new. 



Of the genus Siphonogorgia no less than three out of the seven 

 known species are in the Collection, together with a new species 

 possessing very large spicules, the external ones of which resemble 

 those of Spongodes. 



I have again to acknowledge my obligation to my colleague, 

 Mr. Edgar R. Waite, for the admirable pen and ink drawings, 

 from which the accompanying illustrations were photographically 

 reproduced. 



Mr. Charles Hedley supplies the following field notes : 

 " The Alcyonidce, such as Lobophytum and Sarcophytum, 

 especially nourished on the numerous small reefs which stud 

 the lagoon, where they grew from low water to as deep as the 

 eye could follow. Like the hard corals with which they were 

 interspersed, they loved clear, smooth water, and a rocky bottom, 

 and could not endure sand or mud. So plentiful were they in 

 such spots, that I have often walked for twenty or thirty paces 

 treading upon Alcyonaria continuously. So much do these 

 resemble in a general way some of the hard corals, among which 

 they grow, that I have often stooped to feel whether the object 

 of my attention were hard or soft. On shady days the polyps 

 might be seen fully exserted, but in bright sunshine they were 

 invariably retracted. All the -specimens collected were taken at 

 low water by wading on the lagoon reefs opposite the anchorage. 

 " The Nephthyidce, embracing Spongodes and Siphonogorgia, 

 could not be reached but by one having steam power at command. 

 The only day a steam launch was placed at my disposal, I spent 

 the time dragging tangles across and along the steep and narrow 

 slope west of the atoll, between forty and seventy fathoms. 

 From this rocky mountain side were procured one species of 

 Spongodes, four species of Siphonogorgia, and a number of 

 Gorgonias." These latter will be dealt with in the next Part. 



. ALCYON ARIA. 



FAMILY ALCYONID^. 



SARCOPHYTUM GLAUCUM, Quoy & Gaim. 



Sarcophytum glaucum, Quoy & Gaim., Voy. Astrolabe, Zoophytes, 

 iv., p. 270, pi. xxii., figs. 11-12; Marenzeller, Zool. Jahrb., 

 Bd. i., 1886, p. 352, pi. ix., fig. 12 ; Wright & Studer, Chall. 

 Rep., Zool., xxxi., p. 248, pi. xlii., fig. 3. 



Four well preserved specimens, with the polyps mostly extended. 



