Eunephthya glomerata, Verrill, from the Faeroe Channel. 99 



It is evident that our specimen belongs to the Nephthyiform division or 

 sub-genus of Eunephthya, and to the group which Kiikenthal calls Divaricatee 

 glomeratse, including E. glomerata, Verrill, E. hyalina (Danielssen), E. 

 racemosa, Studer, and some doubtful species. 



I have recorded this specimen for faunistic reasons — it is a characteristic- 

 ally boreal animal previously recorded from deep water of 500 to 600 

 fathoms in Northern Seas, e.g., off Franz-Joseph Land, Spitzbergen, Jan 

 Meyen, and Greenland. It was dredged in the Faeroe Channel, Station 18a, 

 18th June 1906, from a depth of 355 metres. But the specimen has also 

 some systematic interest. 



My specimen agrees with Eunephthya glomerata in all respects except 

 that it shows more numerous delicate spindles, more irregularly headed clubs, 

 and among its irregular spicules none that I should call double stars. By 

 making several distinct preparations from different parts of the colony, I have 

 convinced myself that the slight divergence in the spiculation is quite 

 unimportant, and not greater than that separating some other recorded 

 varieties of the species. I strongly suspect that many of the spicules 

 described and figured as double stars are the broken off heads of very much 

 knobbed clubs. In appearance, and in some of its spicules, my specimen 

 very closely resembles Eunephthya racemosa, Studer, from Newfoundland, 

 and may, I think, be taken as showing that the latter should be included in 

 E. glomerata, Verrill. 



Kiikenthal has already united with Eunephthya glomerata quite a number 

 of species — Ammothea luetkeni, Marenzeller, Nephthya polaris, Nephthya 

 flavescens, Nephthya rosea, Drifa islandica, and Gersemiopsis arctica (all due 

 to Danielssen's exaggerated emphasis on minute differences). I think 

 E. racemosa, Studer, should be added to the list. Moreover, in the detailed 

 description and numerous figures that Danielssen has given of Drifa hyalina 

 (which, as Kiikenthal shows, is certainly a species of Eunephthya), I find no 

 satisfactory reason for keeping even it apart. 



Danielssen noted that Nephthya flavescens, N. polaris, and N rosea, which 

 are now identified with Eunephthya glomerata, are viviparous, and he gave a 

 careful account of the embryos found free in the gullet. It is interesting to 

 notice that the specimen under consideration, collected in the month of June, 

 has numerous large free embryos in some of its polyps. Perhaps, as in some 

 other cases, the viviparous habit is an adaptation to life in deep water. 



[Issued separately, 11th Hay 1910.) 



