2 The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 



blindel." Their very short description of L. indicum and the 

 lack of figures of any kind make it impossible to determine 

 definitely just where it belongs. The large single polyps without 

 a Stiitzbiindel and the fact that the specimen came from a 

 depth of 400 fathoms suggest the genus Eunephthya. No hint 

 is given in the description, however, as to the consistency of 

 the colony, the spiculation of the canal walls, or the comparative 

 size and arrangement of the canals. For these reasons it would 

 be practically impossible to diagnose any alcyonarian as belong- 

 ing to this species. It would be interesting, in the light of 

 their descriptions of these two species, to know just what Thom- 

 son and Henderson consider to be the distinguishing characters 

 of the genus Lithophytum. 



The zoological collection of the University of the Philippines 

 contains a large number of specimens of shallow-reef Neph- 

 thyidae. These include among others one or two species of 

 Dendronephthya,^ 3 species and 3 varieties of Capnella (Light, 

 1914), a number of species of Lemnalia, and the common Para- 

 lemnalia thrysoides (Ehrbg.) Kiikenthal (1913). The remain- 

 der and by far the greater number of specimens belong to the 

 genera Nephthya and Lithophytum. The majority of these show 

 the heavy spiculation, the leathery cortex, the rather stiff colony, 

 and the Stiitzbiindel of Nephthya. A few specimens, belonging 

 to the 2 species described in this paper, have the characters of 

 Lithophytum: the light spiculation of the cortex, the soft flaccid 

 colony, the canal walls with few spicules, and the polyp with few 

 spicules and without a Stiitzbiindel. In the 2 species of this 

 type in our collection there are no polyp or branch spicules. 

 Between these groups, however, are many forms with more or 

 less intergrading characters. They range from forms which 

 have the characters of Nephthya, but show a short indistinct 

 Stiitzbiindel, through forms which in other characters agree to 

 a greater or less extent with Lithophytum but which have an 

 unmistakable Stiitzbiindel, to those forms which have all the 

 other characters of Lithophytum but have on the abaxial sur- 

 face of some or all the polyps one or more larger, longitudinally 

 arranged spindle-shaped spicules, which we must consider a 

 Stiitzbiindel. While some of these specimens are, to all appear- 

 ances, more nearly related to Lithophytum than to Nephthya, 

 yet in order to prevent the possibility of a return to the chaotic 

 condition which has existed in the past with regard to the 



'Our large collection of Philippine Dendro7iephthya and Nephthya has 

 been sent to Dr. W. Kiikenthal at Breslau. 



