Aet. IV. — On the Genus Amathia of Lamouroux, with a 

 Description of a New Species. 



By the Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods, F.G.S., F.L.S., Corres- 

 ponding Memb. Roy. Soc, Victoria, and President 

 of the Linnean Soc, N. S. Wales, &c, &c. 



(With a Plate.) 



[Communicated 12th June, 1879.] 



In 1877 (4th July) I described to the Royal Society of New 

 South Wales two new species of Amathia, under the name 

 of Serialaria, which were found on the coasts of Victoria. 

 I have now the honour to draw attention to another unde- 

 scribed species recently obtained in Port Jackson. It was 

 found by the curator of the Sydney Museum (Mr. E. P. 

 Ramsay) in the systematic dredging operations in which he 

 has been recently engaged, and which have revealed many 

 new forms of marine life. It is to be hoped that before 

 long similar investigations will be carried on in other 

 colonies. Large and important discoveries must infallibly 

 result from them, not only extending our knowledge of the 

 Australian fauna, but also throwing light on the paleontology 

 of our extensive tertiary formations. In this hope we are 

 encouraged by the valuable facts, both for the living and 

 extinct fauna, which even our few dredgings have already 

 revealed. 



Class Polyzoa. 



Order. — Infundibulata ; Sub. Or., 3 Ctenostomata, fam. 

 Vesiculariadse. 



Genus. — Amathia, Lamouroux (Bull. Phil., 1812, Histoire 

 Polyp. Flex., 1816, 157); Serialaria, Lamarck. 



Amathia tortuosa, n.s. S. Polyzoary, of a dark and 

 dull olive green colour, in very fine, thread-like tufts ; erect ; 

 not encrusting or parasitic ; about two inches high, dichoto- 

 mously branching, leaving rather long, slender, cylindrical, 

 smooth, unarmed internodes, which are almost entirely 

 occupied by a double series of about twenty-four pairs of 

 rather high, narrow cells, forming a spiral of not quite one 

 turn round the branch ; mouth of cells somewhat crescentic ; 

 no setae, spines, or armature of any kind. 



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