688 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



The colour of the colony is rufous-brown, the polyps rather 

 lighter. 



Position. — This species approaches very closely Plumarella ■ 

 fllicoides. The chief points of difference from that species are — - 

 (1) its more slender build, and greater tendency to branch; (2) 

 the bilateral arrangement of the polyps ; (3) the rather larger 

 size of the polyps ; (4) the larger number of scales in the abaxial 

 rows on the polyps ; and (5) the less heavy type of spicules. 



Genus PRIMNOELLA, Gray. 

 PRIMNOELLA AUSTRALASIA, Gray. 



(Plate Ixi., fig. 1.) 



Primnoella australasice, Wright and Studer, Chall. Rep., Zool.,. . 

 xxxi., 1889, p. 88, pi. xviii., figs. 1, la, pi. xxi., fig, 15. 



Primnoella australasice, Versluys, Gorgoniden der Siboga Expedi- 

 tion, ii. Die Primnoidse, 1906, pp. 52-54, figs. 55-59. 



Stations 31, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 53, 54. 



The three largest specimens are 135 cm., 113 cm., and 83 cm. 

 in length. In very few cases is the coenenchyma intact; generally 

 it is more or less worn away, and the axis of the colony is over- 

 grown vrith Palythoids, Cirripedes, and in one case by Alcyonium 

 [E7-ythropodium) reftans, Kiikenthal. 



Localities. — Eleven miles east of Broken Bay ; Cape Hawke^. 

 25-28 fathoms. 



Previously recorded from Australian Seas ; New Zealand ;. 

 Bluff Harbour, Tasmania, 7 fathoms ; Port Jackson (New South 

 Wales), 150 fathoms; Station 163a, ofi" Twofold Bay (New 

 South Wales), 150 fathoms. 



PRIMNOELLA FLAGELLUM, Studer. 



Primnoella Jlagellum, Wright and Studer, Chall. Rep., Zool., . 

 xxxi., 1889, p. 85, pL xviii., figs. 2, 2a, pi. xxi., fig, 12. 



Station 48. 



A single specimen, 155 cm. in length, without a basal attach- 

 ment. The lower part of the wire-like axis is worn bare of coen- 

 enchyma ; above this, 20 cms. of the length is encrusted with 

 Cirripedes and Alcyonium. (Erythropodium) reptans, Kukenthal. 

 The remainder of the colony is a long, flexible, whip-like, ^ 

 unbranched stem, closely covered with polyps arranged in whorls, 

 and having an almost uniform diameter of 2 mm. There are 

 about eight polyps in a whorl; the avei'age length of a polyp is - 

 l'5mm. The geographical distribution is remarkable. 



