﻿236 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1914 



FIG. 4. The ends of 

 two spicules from 

 the canal walls of 

 Lemnalioides kiiken* 

 thali, near the base 

 of the colony. X 230. 



The stem is yellowish brown and the polyp-bearing portion is 

 light brown in formalin. 



I have named the type species of the genus in honor of Prof. 

 Dr. Willy Kukenthal, whose epoch-making work in bringing 

 order out of chaos in the classification of the Alcyonaria is too 

 well known to need recounting here. 



I was pleased to see in a recent reprint (1913), which the 

 author kindly sent me, that Kukenthal has come 

 to the conclusion that the first four species, in- 

 cluded in his revision of the Nephthyidse 

 (1903), in group A of the key to the species of 

 the genus Lithophytum as well as L. elegans, 

 brassica, and armatum belong to the genus 

 Lemnalia and to a new genus Paralemnalia 

 rather than to Lithophytum. As the classifica- 

 tion stood before, Lemnalia and Lithophytum 

 overlapped and neither was clearly denned. I 

 had been forced to this conclusion by a study 

 of the large collection of Nephthyidas in the 

 museum of the University of the Philippines. It was first and 

 most strikingly brought to my attention when separating the 

 species into generic groups. Following Kukenthal's key to the 

 genera of the Nephthyidse (1903), a distinct group of species was 

 found which seemingly belonged to Lemnalia, and a study of the 

 literature of that genus confirmed me in that opinion. On study- 

 ing the key to the species of Lithophytum, however, I found the 

 same group of species to agree very closely with certain of the 

 species of group A of that genus. A further 

 study of the descriptions of the species in 

 group A convinced me that some of them 

 were of the same genus if not of the same 

 species as the specimens in our collection, 

 which after a careful study of the works of 

 Gray (1866), Bourne (1900), and Kukenthal 

 (1903) I concluded were, without the pos- 

 sibility of mistake, species of the genus Lem- 

 nalia Gray emend. Bourne emend. Kukenthal. By placing the 

 five species africana May, elegans May, flava May, brassica May, 

 and armatum Kiikth. in the genus Lemnalia, Kukenthal has put it 

 and the genus Lithophytum on a clearer and more workable 

 basis as he has clearly shown in his Alcyonarien des Rothen 

 Meeres. 



In this paper, Kukenthal also describes the new genus Para- 

 lemnalia to receive the species thrysoidcs Ehrbg. and flabclliim 



Fig. 5. Two spicules 

 from the cortex of the 

 extreme base of Lem- 

 nalioides kiikenthali. 

 X 112.6. 



