i3 
T. and S. a knob-like projection, which indicates, in the opinion of these authors, the remains 
of a branch. The research of the Cirripathes-species, published by me at an earlier date (22), showed 
me that a number of those species exist, whereby branches can occur, truly in a very slight 
degree, but enough to abolish a profound difference between branched and unbranched species. 
Eucirripathes Riimphii van Pesch has warts on the colony, which hardly can be called branches, 
but one of which has a length of 0.5 cm., which may be called a branch, although the length 
of the colony is much greater (some metres). It is however remarkable that at the side of 
colonies showing these warts there are also colonies which show no trace of warts, although 
they were captured at the same station. — Eucirripathes anguina (Dana) shows unmistakable 
branches, which indeed remain very short (maximum length is 1.5 cm.) compared with the 
total length of the colony (there are specimens the length of which is 2.5 cm., though they 
are snapped off and their basis is lacking), but these branches have a typical top, so very much 
like the conical top of the colony itself, characterized by a typical, exceedingly increasing dia¬ 
meter, that it is impossible to suppose them to be accidental knots. In this case also colonies 
with these branches occur in the same species as colonies wholly lacking any trace of branches 
or warts. Perhaps it is not inappropriate to quote in this place the following remark of 
Rumphius from his Herb. Amb. : “Zomtijds ziet men op een of twee plaatsen van dezen steel 
een uitsteekende hoek of knop, als of er een tak had willen uitkomen, ’t welk egter zoo niet 
en is, want ik heb nog den zwarten nog den witten Palmijuncus ooit in tweeen verdeeld gezien, 
hoewel de Moluccanen zeggen dat de uiterste draad zomtijds in tweeen klieft als een gaffel, 
welk einde, als gezegt, men nooit te zien krijgt, omdat het van de Visschers weggesmeten 
were!” (description of his Palmijuncus mannus albus , probably an Eucirripathes- species, which 
I am unable to identify). It is very doubtfull whether a characteristic, so very unstable within 
the boundaries of a species itself, and whereby a difference of only a few mm. exists between 
a wart and a branch, may be used as a valuable characteristic ot a subtribe. At the utmost, 
the being branched or unbranched can be used to tell a lesser group from an other, but the 
lesser group the better since the possible mistake becomes of continually lesser importance. 
Opposite to the subtribe of the Crustosae I prefer to place only one single subtribe, including 
the former Ramosae and Indivisae, and which can be called the autonomously growing ones 
or Autokresales . — The external structure of the polyps, especially by Stichopathes , but also 
by Eucirripathes , is so manifold that I almost went so far as to join both genera to the branched 
genera, so that on ground of the polyp-structure branched and unbranched species could be 
united in one and the same genus, for certainly it is strange that Stichopathes aggregata and 
Euantipathes dichotoma with the same polyp-structure should appertain to different genera, while 
Stichopathes Pourtalesi and Stichopathes abyssicola , the polyps of which are very unlike each other, 
belong to one and the same genus. I did not join them however, although now and again I 
might have rightly done so, for until now the material of polyps is too scanty to make out the 
typical polyp-structure of a species or a genus. It seems to me, that, when later on we could 
pass on to this, for the time being only genera belonging to the Autokresales can be con¬ 
sidered, in view of the structure and anatomy of the polyps, occurring by Stichopathes and 
Eucirripathes. 
