818 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Station 34. 



Small colonies belonging, without doubt, to this widely dis- 

 tributed species, occur growing upon a straggling Polyzoon. The 

 colonies cannot compare in size with the well-developed examples 

 found in the North Sea, for they are less than 1 cm. high, hufc 

 as regards fasciculation, irregular arrangement of hydrothecJB, 

 and details of hydro'thecal shape, they are in' perfect agreement 

 with European specimens of forma typica. The stalk of tire 

 hydrotheca is marked by only a single loose twist, and, of the 

 .many variations figured by Broch, the hydrothecEe almost exactly 

 resemble those of specimens of the typical form from the mouth 

 of the Christia.nia Fjord (Broch, 1909, fig. 17, v., p. 157.) 



Dimensions. — • . 



Stem tube, diameter..... 0-08-0-12 mm. 



Hydrotheca, length « ; j.. 0-52-0'63 „ 



,,. diameter at mouth.... 0'139-0147 j, . > 



These measurements ^show that the parts of the Australian 

 specimens are smaller than those of ' Mediterranean examples 

 I'ecorded l>y Billard'^ from south-west of Toulon, although they 

 agree with those of North Sea specimens in niy Collection. ' 



Locality — Station 34, off Port Jackson, three and a half to 

 two and a half miles from shore ; 39 to 36 f-athoms ; bottom, 

 sand and mud ; 10th March, 1898. 



Only a single previous record of this species has been made 

 from Australian waters, Hincks, (1868, p. 203) mentioning a 

 -specimen from Bass Strait as l)eing with " little doubt " identical 

 with Lafoea fruticosa. Bale, in his " Catalogue," has followed 

 liim in this mistaken synonymy. 



LAFOEA SERRATA, Clarke. 



Lafoea serrata, Clarke, Btill. Mas. Comp. Zool. Harvard, v., 

 1879, p. 242, pi. iv., fig. 25. ' 7r/.', Th.ornely in Herdman, 

 Ceylon "Pearl Fisheries, pt. ii , SuppT. Rep. viii., Hydioida, 

 1904, p. 116. ' Id., Hartlaub, Zool. Jahrl). Jena, Suppl. 6, 

 iii., 1905, p. 595, fig. Q^. Id.', Billard, (1) Exped. Sci. 

 "Talisman" et *'Travailleur," viii., 1907, p. 178, and (2) 

 Arch. Zool. exper, vii., 1907, p. 340. Id., Ritchie, (l)Rpc. 

 Indian Mus., v., pt. 1, 1910, p. 9, and (2) Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 1910, 2, p. 815. 



^Including stalk. 



■^ Billard— Exped. Sci. " Tiavailleur" et " Talisman," viii., 1907, Hydro- 

 ides, p. 176. 



