﻿ix, d. 3 Light: Notes on Philippine Alcyonaria 243 



the polyps are sometimes arranged in little groups and are 

 borne on the branches and twigs, in the absence of stomodseal 

 spicules, and in the scarcity of spicules in the tentacles. 



Because of these differences, I consider Lemnalioides a natural 

 genus between Lemnalia and Lithophytum. It approaches Litho- 

 phytum in that the tentacle spicules are few and scattered and 

 in the absence of stomodseal spicules. It further approaches 

 it in its softer consistency and more treelike colony form. It 

 is much more closely related to Lemnalia, however, which it 

 resembles in its colony formed of proximally coalesced stems, 

 in that the polyp-bearing portion of the colony is confined to 

 a small distal portion of the colony, in its mode of branching, 

 and very strikingly in the spiculation of the canal walls and 

 cortex. 



A further characteristic of Lemnalioides which separates it 

 together with Lemnalia and Paralemnalia from Lithophytum as 

 from all other nephthyid genera is the presence of very numerous 

 long, sticky, elastic mesenterial filaments, extending to the base 

 of the colony. This would seem to be a character which, together 

 with the very characteristic form, size, and arrangement of the 

 spicules of the canal walls and cortex and the presence of distinct 

 polyp-bearing and barren portions of the stem with the prepon- 

 derance of the barren portion, might justify the separation of the 

 three genera Paralemnalia, Lemnalia, and Lemnalioides as a sub- 

 family, Lemnaliinse, within the family Nephthyidae. 



LITERATURE 



Bourne, G. C. On the Genus Lemnalia Gray with an Account of the 

 Branching Systems of the Order Alcyonacea. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lon- 

 don (1900), II, 7, 521-538, 3 plates, 3 text figures. 



Gray, J. E. Descriptions of Some New Genera and Species of Alcyonid 

 Corals in the British Museum. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1868), 2, 

 441-445 (woodcut) . 



Kukenthal, W. Alcyonaceen von Ternate. Nyphthyidae Verrill und Si- 

 phonogorgiidae Kolliker. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Natur- 

 forschenden Gesellschaft (1895), 23, pt. 1, 81-144, 4 plates. 



Idem. Versuch einer Revision der Alcyonarien. II. Die Familie der 

 Nephthyiden. 1. Thiel. Zool. Jahrb., Sijst. (1903), 19, 99-172, 3 plates. 



Idem. Alcyonaria des Roten Meeres. Expeditionen S. M. Schiff "Pola" in 

 das Rote Meer, nordliche und sudliche Halfte, 1895-96-97-98. Zool. 

 Ergeb. (1913), 29, 1-33 (reprint), 3 plates, 27 text figures. 



May, W. Beitrage zur Systematik und Chorologie der Alcyonaceen. Jena. 

 Zeitschr. f. Naturw. (1899), 33, 1-180, 5 plates. 



124685 i 



