480 



Gorgonia into three, according to the form and disposition of the cells ; 

 and, in his edition of Solander and Ellis, added a fourth under the 

 name of Muricea ; but still the genus Gorgonia was a magazine of 

 most heterogeneous species, some closely allied to the genera which 

 Lamouroux had established ; and it is to be observed that Lamarck 

 did not adopt the Lamourouxian genera. 



Ehrenberg added another genus to the group, under the name of 

 Pterogorgia ; but this is synonymous with Gorgonia of Lamouroux, 

 when the other genera which he describes are separated from it ; 

 and Dana seems to have felt this to be the case when he referred so 

 many additional species to that genus. 



I have in various papers added several genera to the list ; and in 

 the ' Annals and Magazine ' for this month I have given an arrange- 

 ment of the various published genera in a connected series. 



M. Valenciennes, in his outline of the arrangement of Gorgonice in 

 the 'Comptes Rendus/ xli. p. 14. f. 18, proposed two genera: — 

 1 . Gorgonella for Gorgonia sarmentosa, and Verrucella for Gorgonia 

 violacea, G.flexuosa and G.furcata of Lamarck. The specimens 

 which I have named as G. sarmentosa and G. violacea have a horny 

 and not a calcareous axis, and in other respects do not agree with the 

 characters that M.Valenciennes assigns to them. 



Esper's figure of G. violacea (Gorg. t. 12) has flat, and not pro- 

 duced cells, which is the essential character of the genus Verrucella, 

 of which it is regarded and quoted as the type. These genera must 

 be left for further examination. M. M. -Edwards adopts them in his 

 4 Coralliaires/ i. p. 184. 



The Lithophytes which have a stony axis may be divided into four 

 groups, according to the nature of the axis and the structure of the 

 bark, these groups being subdivided into families : — 



I. Axis continuous, not jointed ; bark granular. 



Fam. 1. CORALLIADiE. 



The axis solid, calcareous, not jointed. Bark granular. Cells 

 scattered on all sides. 



1. Cor allium. 



1. C. rtjbrum, Carolini. 

 Hab. Mediterranean. 



2. C. secundum, Dana. 

 Hab. Sandwich Islands. 



2. Heliania. 



Coral fan-like, dichotomously branched ; branchlets subacute, as- 

 cending, divaricate ; lower branches sometimes inosculating. Bark 

 granular, hard, even. Cells produced, sub cylindrical, short, rather 

 incurved, placed in two, three, or four alternating series on the sides 

 of the branchlets. Axis hard, continued, calcareous, greyish-brown. 



