98 



MR JAMES RITCHIE : SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON 



Abrohlos Bank, Brazil. Lat. 18° 24' S., long. 37° 58' W. Depth, 36 fathoms. Bottom 

 deposit, coral. 20th December 1 902. 



Previously recorded from Little Cat Island, Bahamas (Nutting). 



Aglaophenia latecarinata, Allman, 1877. 



This common tropical species, identical, as shown by the researches of Professor 

 Nutting (1900, p. 96), with the A. minuta of Fewkes (1881, p. 132), occurs 

 among the Scotia collections in its usual habitat, creeping upon the fronds and 

 bladders of Saragassum weed. The specimens, the largest of which are 13 mm. high, 

 correspond with Nutting's description in all points but one. For while he mentions only 

 two nematophores at the base of each hydroclade. I have observed in all cases four 

 nematophore apertures, the two recorded by Nutting, and, in addition, lying immedi- 

 ately distal to the internodal process from which the hydroclade projects, in the axil 

 between it and the stem, a double nematophore, possessing two apertures, one directed 

 to the right, the other to the left of the hydroclade process. The coenosarc of this 

 nematophore connects with the general coenosarc of the colony through a single median 

 perforation in the internode wall. A similar arrangement of nematophores occurred in 

 the specimens examined by Bill ard (1907) and Versluys (1899). As the following 

 comparative table shows, our specimens are. in all respects, somewhat larger than those 

 described by Billard : — 





Scotia Specimen. 



Billakd's Talisman 

 Specimen. 



Length of hydrocaulus 

 Breadth of ,, 

 Length of stem internodes 



,, hydrotheca 

 Breadth of hydrotheca at mouth (excluding 



keel) . 

 Breadth of keel .... 



6-13 mm. 

 0-1 -013 mm. 

 0-34 mm. 

 0-31 „ 



0-15 „ 

 0-03 „ 



5-6 mm. 

 0-08-0-12 mm. 

 0-25-0-30 „ 

 0-27-0-30 „ 



0-135 mm. 



1 



Locality. — On floating Saragassum weed, caught in spawn net. 

 Lat. 32° 11' N., long. 34° 10' W. 30th June 1904. 



Station 538. 



Halicornaria longicauda, Nutting, 1900. 



At first glance one of the specimens which I have referred to this species appears to 

 be a fascicled colony with alternate branches ; but closer scrutiny shows that there is 

 present a central axis with the remains of hydroclades, and that around this are grouped 

 tubes which in their distal portions are continued as the so-called branches, and in the 

 proximal appear to form the hydrorhizal tubes of the compound colony. The specimen 

 really consists of a central axis upon which several distinct Halicornaria colonies happen 



