James A. Grieg. [No. 3 



In the young Funiculina quadrangularis, the oesophagus is of 

 a brownish red, or brown colour; with this exception the living 

 animal is quite transparent so that the axis is visible. Thus the 

 colour agrees with that in Leptoptilum, at any rate with that of 

 the variety. 



What distinguishes these two genera is therefore only the axis 

 and the tentacles. 



In Leptoptilum the axis is said to be round, in Funiculina, on 

 the contrary, it is quadrangular. 



In the last-named genus, the tentacles are „ohne Kalkkorper", 

 while in Leptoptilum, „the axis of the tentacles bears a row of 

 calcareous needles . . . ." In the variety norvegicum, the tentacles 

 are, „paa midten af den aborale side forsynede med en længde- 

 række spikler," (in the middle of the aboral side, furnished with a 

 longitudinal row of spicules). 



There are, moreover, some differences in the size of the cal- 

 careous spicules in these two genera. We can hardly, however, 

 base a species, still less a genus, on the size of the spicules; they 

 are too variable for that. They appear to be dependent on the 

 size of the sea-pen besides being subject to individual variations. 



The Bergen Museum received from Professor Kollikee two 

 original specimens of his Leptoptilum gracile. The type specimens 

 of Danielssen and Koken's Leptoptilum gracile, var. norvegicum 

 are also preserved in the museum. 



On account of the great similarity, which, as mentioned above, 

 there is between the genus Leptoptilum and early stages of Funi- 

 culina quadrangularis, I subjected these specimens to a minute 

 comparison with some young, 175 — 360 mm. long specimens of 



„a condition of extrerae contraction", so that only the lowest part can he seen. 

 That the calcareous spicules can appear in any part of the cell has already 

 heen pointed out hy Kolliker, who says of some young Funiculina from the 

 Adriatic Sea, that they are only distinguished from the typical Funiculina 

 quadrangularis hy the fact that „die Kalknadeln in der ganzen Lange der 

 Kelche sich finden, und bis zum Kiele sich erstrecken . . . ." (p. 259). 



"When Milnes Marshall and Fowler say of the young Funiculina from 

 the „Porcupine" expedition in 1869 : Noticeable only for the great abundance 

 of the spicules in the autozooids", they here too only refer to the cell, and 

 not to the whole polyp. A great abundance of lime in the cell seems also to 

 be characteristic of all young Funiculina quadrangularis, that, at any rate, 

 being the case with those which I have had the opportunity of examining. 

 (Cf. Oversigt over Norges pennatulider, Bergens Museums Aarsberetning 1891, 

 no. I, fig. 5). 





