172 
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 
house, N.W. 9 miles. Depth, 51 fathoms. Nature of bottom, sand and 
shells. Date of collection, September 3, 1901. 
"Pieter Faure," No. 2668. Vasco da Gama N.W. J N. 8 miles. 
Depth, 41 fathoms. Collected by dredge. Nature of bottom, rocks. 
Date, April 27, 1900. (This specimen was in an unsatisfactory condition 
for identification as the contents of the bottle had become dried during 
transit.) 
SiNULARIA (ScLEROPHYTUM) UNILOBA.TA, Sp. U. 
Chief characteristics. — Specimen almost cylindrical, resembling Md- 
alcyonium and Niclalia in general form. Texture of colony extremely hard. 
Polyp-bearing part not divided up into lobes. Polyps large, 2-4 mm. in 
length, 2 mm. in diameter at base when contracted, 2-5 mm. in diameter 
across the crown of tentacles. Tentacles broad and blunt, about 7 mm. in 
length ; pinnules, a double row down each side of the tentacles. Siphono- 
zooids not present. Mesenteries well marked, ventral mesenterial filaments 
fairly long. Eeproductive organs not observed. Superficial and internal 
canal systems well marked, and canals numerous. Zoochlorellse not nume- 
rous. Spicules of polyp-bearing part numerous near the surface, mostly clubs 
with tubercles slightly arranged in zones, few spicules in the interior of the 
same part, and mostly very long and narrow spindles or rods. Spicules of 
the external stalk, large clubs or spindles resembling those on the surface of 
the polyp-bearing part. Branched spicules, such as in those figured by Pratt 
in various species of Scleroiihytum, not present in this form. No spicules in 
the anthocodiae of the polyps. 
Notes on si)ecimens. — The largest specimen is curved and cylindrical 
in shape. The polyp-bearing part is fairly sharply marked off from the 
stalk ; the former is considerably longer than the latter. The polyps 
are large, numerous, and. almost in contact at the bases, and are 
capable of almost complete retraction. The polyj:) is differentiated into 
three parts, namely, a crown of green tentacles, a stomodaeal part, and a 
cup-like part raised above the general surface of the superficial coenenchyme, 
and protected externally by large white, club-shaped spicules. The tentacles 
and pinnules are rather plump. In the retracted condition, a striking 
feature is the width of the wall of the cup-like basal part of the polyp. The 
size and massive condition of the spicules projecting on the external surface 
of the coenenchyme of the polyp-bearing part is noteworthy. The spicules 
of the stalk are densely crowded together, and the latter expands slightly in 
a horizontal or lateral direction at the base. 
The following dimensions may be noticed : stalk about 36 mm. in length 
and 13 mm. in diameter ; polyp-bearing part about 38 mm. in length and 
15 mm. in diameter near the base and 9 mm. near the apex; diameter 
of cup-like basal part of polyp, sometimes 1*75 mm. ; largest polyps, 4 mm. 
