Cepenclant, la petitesse relative des zooi'des d 'Antip. gracilis v. Koch, jointe a la finesse des 
branches, contribuent a faire de cette variete d' Antip. aenea une transition du type vers Anti- 
pathes viminalis". — So there is, according to Roule, a connective line : Antipaihes aenea v. K. — 
Antipathes gracilis v. K. — Antipathes viminalis Roule. These so-called species only differ 
in minor points, and, as is demonstrated by the table, not more than is reached by the individual 
variability. — In connection with the so-called Antipathella- character of Antipathella elegans 
T. and S., it is worth the trouble to quote the following sentence from Roule : “II est a remarquer, 
en surplus, que la petite taille des polypes d 'Antip. viminalis et la disposition assez frequente 
des tentacules en deux groupes de trois, montrent a leur tour une sorte de passage des vrais 
Antipathes aux representants du genre Antipathella ”. 
Antipathes gracilis v. Koch. Referring to Roule’s remarks about this species (quoted 
in my discussion of Ant. viminalis R.) it is only necessary, as far as this species is concerned, 
to refer to the tabel to show how slight are the deviations from Euantipathes dichotoma. — Von 
Koch disposed only of one single fragment of a colony, so that he himself remarked: “Er (viz. 
Ant. gracilis n. sp.) mag so lange bestehen bleiben, bis es Jemand gelingt, alle die vorhandenen 
Narnen und Beschreibungen auf die wirklich existirenden Formen zu iibertragen, resp. mit ihnen 
in Zusammenhang zu bringen.” We must remark that v. Koch found rudiments of mesenterial 
filaments on four of the secondary mesenteries. 
Antipathes aenea v. Koch. Also for this species I can refer to Roule’s remarks, not 
only at Antipathes virgata Esper (14; p. 77) where the difference between this species and 
Ant. aenea does not appear to be so very large, but also at Antipathes viminalis where he 
indicates a transition from Ant. aenea v. K. via Ant. gracilis v. K. towards Ant. viminalis R. 
The following quotation from von Koch (2) proves my opinion: “Ich habe lange gezaudert ob ich 
Antipathes scoparia oder Antipathes dichotoma als Uberschrift setzen soil, denn in den Beschrei- 
bungen dieser beiden Arten von verschiedenen Autoren findet sich Vieles was auf die mir 
vorliegende Form passt. Aber einerseits schien es mir nicht unbedenklich diese beiden Arten, 
von denen mir typische Exemplare nicht vorliegen, einfach zu vereinigen, andererseits fand ich 
in deren Beschreibungen auch Einzelheiten, welche sich nicht genau auf meine Exemplare 
anwenden Hessen. Schliesslich griff ich zu deni unschuldigsten, wenn auch etwas odiosen Mittel 
eine neue Art zu creiren welche ich nach dem eigenthumlichen Aussehen des Skelettes als aenea 
bezeichne. Hoffentlich gelingt es mir, ftir eine spatere eingehendere Monographic, das nothige 
Material zu erhalten um den neuen Namen wieder hinauswerfen und einen alteren an seine Stelle 
setzen zu konnen” (2; p. 202, 203). — One of the greatest differences is constituted by the 
dimensions of the polyps, but in this respect I may refer to the review of the tabel. The other 
differences are but very slight. The elongation of the base of the spines is more than once 
visible in the immediate neighbourhood of the normal spines on specimens of Euantipathes 
dichotoma. — Occasionally fusions occur, and in this respect I can refer to my discussion of 
Antipathes virgata Esp. 
Antipathella gracilis Gray (descriptions by L. Roule and Johnson). This is not the 
species, given by Brook and based on material in the British Museum, for the latter species is 
identical with Antipathella Brooki Johnson (see there). The only great deviation, which Roule's 
SIBOGA-EXPEDITIE XVII. 
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