128] 
RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
external IIIBr. series ; the dorsal pole of the centrodorsal is 6 mni. 
to 7 mm. in diameter ; the cirri are'XXII, 44-46, 35 mm. to 40 mm. 
long ; the colour is white, the outer part of the arms narrowly 
banded, and the pinnules broadly blotched, with purple ; (2) forty- 
one arms about 75 mm. long ; the cirri are XX, 39-44, 35 mm. to 
40 mm. long; (3) about forty arms 65 mm. long; the cirri are 
about 30 mm. long; the colour is white, the arms beyond the 
division series narrowly and regularly banded with purple, the 
bands being continued on to the pinnules; (4) forty arms 60 mm. 
long ; dorsal pole of the centrodorsal is 5 ram. in diameter ; the 
cirri are XXI, 34-39, 25 mm. long ; (5) about forty arms, there are 
two IVBr. series ; (6) forty arms, similar to the preceding. 
Comparison with related species. Neometra gorgoma is very 
different from all of the other described species of the genus. As 
now known the species of this genus, on the basis of the number of 
their arms, fall into five groups : (i) species having from fifteen to 
twenty arms [aleoto) ; (2) species having twenty arms (multicolor 
spinosissima, conaminis) ; (3) species having thirty arms {acanthaster) ; 
(4) species having from thirty to forty arms (sihogae) ; and (5) 
species having forty arms (gorgonia). The only species with which 
this can possibly need comparison is N . sibogae. 
On the terminal twelve or thirteen cirrus segments in N. 
sibogae the high median carination is accompanied on either side by 
a usually more or less elongate tubercle which, however, is com- 
paratively small and inconspicuous. I did not notice this until my 
attention was called to the similar, but far more prominent, pro- 
cesses in N. gorgonia. 
In N. sibogae the edges, both proximal and distal, of the 
elements of the division series and the proximal brachials, and the 
distal edges of the brachials and of the cirrus segments are promi- 
nently everted, giving the animal a curiously ornate appearance ; 
in N. gorgonia the edges of the elements of the division series, 
brachials and cirrus segments are smooth, so that the general 
aspect of the two forms is strikingly different ; the cirri of N. 
gorgonia are very much longer than, in fact nearly twice as long as, 
the cirri of N. sibogae, and the three keels on the dorsal side of the 
outer segments are very much more strongly marked ; the cirrus 
segments in N. gorgonia are much more numerous than in N. sibogae. 
