68 ARVID R. MOLANDER, ALCYONACEA. 
spindles are here comparatively short. In the branch bark there are, as usual, rollers, 
but the thorns here are somewhat more scattered, as usual, and they are higher. There 
are also rather numerous small spindles and clubs. 
This variety much resembles the Gersemia fruticosa, but I have distinguished it 
as a variety on account of the spicules in the branch bark and the upper part of the an- 
thocodia. The spicules generally show a variation in a direction towards club-shape. 
(Fig. 12 g.) 
Habitat: 
Greenland: Claushavn, 504 met., clay (ÖBERG, /; 1870), 2 sps. 
Gersemia fruticosa (Sars) var. rigida n. var. 
Diagnosis: "The lower part of the trunk swelled. The upper part of the trunk is 
strongly tapered, and carries few and short branches. The spicules of the part of the an- 
thocodia are long, 0.3—0.45 mm., and with scattered thorns. 
Of this variety, which in most cases corresponds with the Gersemia fruticosa forma 
typica, there are two specimens, one from £. Spitzbergen and one from W. Spitzbergen, 
Ice Fiord. The following description refers to that from . Spitzbergen. (Pl. I, fig. 11.) 
The colony is about 5 cm. high. The lower part of the trunk is strongly swelled 
and of considerable thickness, and carries 3—4 small, wart-like branches, with 2—3 an- 
thocodiae on each. The upper part of the trunk tapers very much, and carries a few short 
club-shaped branches, which are closely covered with anthocodiae. The anthocodiae are 
about 2.5 mm. in length, not including the tentacles, which, in the specimens investigated, 
are contracted and folded inwards toward the mouth. A calyx generally occurs. 
The spicules in the upper part of the anthocodia are long and narrow spindles with 
scattered thorns and are arranged in 8 double rows, in the upper part converging at sharp 
angles and, in the lower part, passing into a transverse wreath with 4—35 spicules in a 
row. Length from 0.3—0.5so mm. (Fig. 12 h.) The lower part of the anthocodia has 
long, spindle-shaped spicules, with numerous, uniformly distributed thorns, divided into 
8 rows with about 10 spicules in each. Length from 0.22—0.28 mm. In the branch bark 
short rollers with girdles are predominant, but nearest the base of the anthocodia there 
exist long, spindle-shaped and rod-shaped spicules, homologous with those of the lower 
part of the anthocodia. These longer spicules disappear, however, in the real branch 
bark. The length of the girdle spicules is 0.13—0.18 mm. In the trunk bark are placed 
numerous, broad rollers with girdles of simple shape, crosses, and irregular spicules, etc., 
measuring 0.07—0.1 mm. and in the inner coenenchym a small number of irregular spi- 
cules from 0.03 to 0.06 mm. in length. 
The coenenchym between the coelenterons is, in general, very thin. 'The anthocodiae 
are situated very close together and uniformly on the branches, and consequently crowd- 
ing among the coelenterons is fairly great. Both indirect and direct connection exist. 
The direct is rather constant, and the indirect canals, which generally exist in the shape 
of narrow strings, are not specially developed. Some of the walls between the coelente- 
rons are powerfully developed, and in these thickened balks the indirect canal system is 
