6 
In 1907 L. Roule published a short remark: “Sur la valeur morphologique des epines 
du polypier des Antipathaires” (C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris 1907). The Charcot Expedition had found 
in the Antarctic a Gorgonida (Rhopcilonella n. g.) which had Antipatharian spines. On the 
lower part of the axis these spines were short and massive, just like the spines of the Anti- 
patharia, but on the higher parts of the colony these spines were more numerous and longer 
the higher they were situated on the axis, so that they gradually changed into the very thin 
polyp-bearing branches, which were fixed with a broadened base on the stem. Roule compares 
these spines with those of the Antipatharia, which clearly may also occur in the other Anthozoa. 
Roule considers them as “branches abortives”. The unbranched colonies of the Antipatharia 
have only these ones: the branched colonies add to them the normal branches. 
Also in 1907 J. A. Thomson described a large specimen from the Faeroes, “remarkable 
in being an Antipatharian, for the occurrence of a representative of this order in northern 
waters near Britain was, to say the least, unexpected; and in the second place because of 
its huge size (over a yard in height)”. Polyps are unknown. The corallum, according to Thom¬ 
son, is very much like Parantipathes larix Esper but also reminds very much of Paxipathes 
recta Brook. Numerous filiform pinnules, arranged in six vertical rows, give the branches the 
appearance of a bottle-brush. “For these reasons this specimen is”, in my opinion rightly, 
“referred to Par. larix Esper, involving a slight modification of the diagnosis of this species, 
as well as a great extension of its previously recorded range of distribution”. 
In the same year (1907) Hickson published the description of the Antipatharia, col¬ 
lected by the “Huxley ' from the North side of the Bay of Biscay in August 1906. — Together 
with specimen of Parantipathes larix Esper and one specimen of Schizopathes crassa Brook 
Hickson describes six specimen as Stichopathes spiralis Pourt., pertaining to the species named 
by Brook Stichopathes poiLrtalesi and named by Pourt ales himself Antipathes spiralis. The 
Schizopathes-species only is described to a certain extent but the other species are only men¬ 
tioned with locality and depth. — More detailed descriptions are not published, even at a later date. 
In 1909 C. Forster-Cooper published Antipatharia collected by the Percy Sladen 
Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905. The author gives a few preliminary remarks 
on the specific characters of the Antipatharia. The method of growth of the colony gives him 
the opportunity of relevating the uncertainty of species-making when only a single specimen is 
found. In his opinion Dr. Jones' researches on the external influence on the growth of corals, 
producing various types of growth from a single specimen, support the view that similar causes 
are producing similar results in the Antipatharia. “Caution must be exercised in using as an 
index of specific rank slight differences in the shape of colonies, which otherwise do not greatly 
differ from one another”. Also in the use of the spines as specific characters one ought to be 
very cautious in view of the great variability on one and the same colony. — A short intro¬ 
duction is given to the genus Stichopathes Br., but these remarks for the greater part also 
hold good for the other genera, especially as to the spines. Described are: Stichopathes echi- 
nulata Br., papillosa T. and S. var., lo?igispina n. sp., alcocki n. sp., regular is n. sp., seychel- 
lensis n. sp., lutkeni Br. (the polyps are absent in this species, so that it remains a dubious 
species!), bournei n. sp., Cirr. anguina Dana, Schiz. affinis Br., Bath, pattila Br. with typical 
