﻿Note on a Large Antipatharian from the Fceroes. 189 



There have been at least eight fairly strong primary branches, 

 arising irregularly and at various angles from the main 

 stem, and one of these which was broken off, and was 

 heavily weighted with large clusters of barnacles (Scalpellum 

 vulgar e), had an irregularly elliptical section, about 8 mm. 

 by 6 mm. From the strong primary branches a few 

 secondary branches arise, and all the branches bear very 

 numerous twigs or pinnules, with which the main stem was 

 also beset, as the more or less broken stumps plainly show. 

 The twigs or pinnules arise on all sides of the primary and 

 secondary branches in somewhat irregular vertical rows. 

 They arise for the most part at right angles, and in some 

 parts there are rather vague indications of six vertical 

 rows. As many as forty-eight pinnules may occur on a 

 centimetre, and thus a dense bottle-brush appearance 

 results. The twigs or pinnules have a thread-like axis 

 (0'18 mm. in diameter), and stand out stiffly, but they are 

 as flexible as a fencing-foil. 



Only a few spines were seen on the branches, but they 

 occur in typical abundance on the delicate twigs. Three 

 rows are fully visible on one aspect, and there are actually 

 six vertical rows. These spines are minute, fairly sharp 

 triangles, curved slightly upwards and not closely appressed. 

 In many cases they project for 0*09 mm., but they are not 

 all of the same size. Those observed on the branches are 

 larger but lower than those on the pinnules, and even on 

 the same pinnule there is some inequality. The distance 

 between two adjacent spines on a vertical row varies from 

 0*5 to 0"75 mm., and is by no means regular. 



The reason for these details will be obvious when I 

 mention the unfortunate fact that not a word can be said 

 in regard to the polyps of this interesting specimen. When 

 it came into my hands, it showed abundant remains of the 

 ccenenchyma, but no definite trace of any of the polyps 

 could be found. Two or three of the best pieces were 

 immediately fixed, but they only showed that the polyps 

 were hopelessly decomposed. This is peculiarly unfortun- 

 ate, because it is very difficult to identify an Antipatharian 

 apart from its polyps. 



