378 



„ \ 



ON SEA-PENS OF THE FAMILY VERETILLID.E. [Apr. 17, 



piece, 3 mm. long, was about 7 mm. distant from the upper end 

 of the rhachis ; the lower end of the other piece, 9 mm. long, was 

 about 5 mm. from the lower end of the stalk. The two fragments 

 together measured therefore about 12 mm. and were 30 mm. 

 apart. Nothing in the appearance of the colony indicated, either 

 before or during dissection, that the fracture of the axis was 

 attributable to rough treatment after death, and from the appearance 

 of the fractured surfaces I incline to think that the break occurred 

 during life. In the second specimen the axis was unbroken ; it 

 measured a little less than 12 mm. in length, and lay at the junction 

 of stalk and rhachis. In botli cases the axis Mas pointed at both 

 ends, and measured •ISWS mm. in diameter; its surface was 

 covered by irregular warts and knobs, and its colour was a 

 brilliant white. 



The spicules are of different size and character in rhachis and 

 stalk. In the rhachis (fig. 3) they take the shape of elongate 

 needles of irregular form (d). These are very numerous, and are 

 distributed throughout the ccenosarc. A few are bifurcated («), 

 or carry a promineuce at one side (h) • rarely one meets with 

 " Vierlinge/' An average spicule of the needle type measures 

 480^ x 32 jx. — In the stem (fig. 4) the spicules were very much 

 smaller than in the rhachis, as will be seen by the magnification 

 of the two figures. By far the greater number are regularly 

 elliptical (a), an average specimen measuring 49 ll x 24 p. 

 Scattered sparsely among these are needles of the same character 

 as those of the rhachis (b), but very much shorter ; they are about 

 208 fx X 32 p. " Vierlinge '" are fairly numerous (c). 



It is possible, but, I think, unlikely, that the specimens under 

 description may prove to be old specimens of Cavernularia luikeni 

 (Koll.), which also came from the Bay of Bengal. The pro- 

 portionate dimensions of the colony are not quite close enough 

 to allow of this determination : expressed in percentages of total 

 length they are : — 





Rhachis. 



Stem. 



Axis. 



Length. 



Breadth. 



Length. Breadth. , 



Length. 



C. malabarica... 



70 



78 



37 



58 



28-5 

 22 



14 



14 



36 P 

 24 



Further, the very numerous elliptical spicules of the stalk are 

 not mentioned by Kolliker (' Pennatulida/ p. 347) ; the polyps of 

 C. luikeni are described as " entferntstehend," and the shape of the 

 colony (Koll. Penn. pi. xxii. fig. 211) is quite unlike that of our 

 specimens. 



Locality. Calicut, Malabar Coast. 



