X, D, 3 



Light:' Notes on Philippine Alcyonaria 



207 



Cornularia minuta is smaller in every way than C. cornucopia ; 

 the polyps of the latter are 10 millimeters or more in length, 

 while those of C. minuta when fully expanded are but from 2 

 to 2.5 millimeters in length from the base to the tip of the ex- 

 tended tentacles. These polyps are fully mature, as they were 

 found in several cases to contain well-developed eggs. When 

 expanded they are slender and taper slightly from the base to 

 a region immediately below the tentacles. The tentacles are 

 one third as long as the body of the polyp and form a crown, 

 wide in proportion to the diameter of the polyp. This is in con- 

 trast to the condition in C. cornucopise and gives an appearance 



Fig. 4. Camera lucida outline of an expanded polyp of Cornularia minuta. X23.5. 



similar to that of the polyps of certain species of Anthelia. The 

 pinnules are short, thick, cylindrical, and crowded on the ten- 

 tacles, and show a superficial segmentation suggestive of hydroid 

 tentacles. They diifer decidedly from those of C. cornucopise 

 as figured by Cavolini (1785), which are long, slender, and 

 rather widely separated on the tentacles, suggesting the arrange- 

 ment in Stereosoma (Anthelia) celebense Hickson (1895), 

 This difference may be due to some extent to the contraction of 

 the pinnules and tentacles of C. minuta. The oral surface shows 

 a raised zone around a large mouth similar to that figured by 

 Cavolini (1785) for C. cornucopia. 



In contraction the entire polyp lies within the cup of perisarc 



