56 
Stat. 115. Kwandang Bay. Reef. 7 Ex. 
Stat. 213. Saleyer. Reef. 2 Ex. 
Stat. 220. Binongka. Reef. 1 Ex. 
Two interesting dark-coloured colonies from Station 213, Saleyer, with almost no stalk, 
and with a strongly folded capitulum spreading like a horse-shoe. The maximum expansions 
are 10.5 and 11.5 cm.; the maximum height is 4.4 cm.; in both cases there is a deep incision, 
like the mouth of the horse-shoe, where perhaps a piece of rock came in the way. The surface 
is smooth and leathery; the autozooids are numerous and well-marked; the siphonozooids are 
on the whole indistinct, but can be seen in patches with the naked eye. No importance can be 
attached to this feature, except in so far as it means that the siphonozooids are not large. The 
spicules agree on the whole with those figured by Marenzeller and Burchardt ; they include 
(1) a large number of rough clubs, (2) a large number of warty spindles, not very densely 
warted, (3) numerous very narrow spindles with few warts, (4) a smaller number of broader 
and blunter, short, warted forms. There are no massive spindles like those of N. glaucum and 
no densely warted ovals like those of 5 . trocheliophorum. 
A young colony from Station 220, Binongka Reef, with a somewhat horseshoe-shaped 
curve and practically no stalk, has a maximum diameter of 5 cm. and at right angles to that 
a diameter of 2.5 cm. The surface is covered with retracted autozooids, about 1 mm. in diameter, 
and between these there are numerous siphonozooids, readily seen with the naked eye, and 
present, on an average, in the centre of the capitulum, to the number of four in a line between 
two autozooids. It appears to us that no systematic value can be attached to the relative 
numbers of autozooids and siphonozooids when the colonies are of different sizes. The shape 
and the amount of stalk seem to us to be merely modifiable growth characters. The spicules 
agree well with those figured by Marenzeller, especially those of fig. 3, Plate IX. They 
include spindles and pseudo-clubs with compound warts, and the spindles vary considerably 
in the ratio of breadth to length. Many minute spindles show two zones with a few prominences 
in each. 
Seven specimens from Station 115, of a darkish colour, with the disc never protruding far 
beyond the stalk, and often showing a single deep indentation, are referable to S. ehrenbergi if 
that be regarded as a variable species. The disc is thick and soft, with few folds. The autozooids 
are separated by intervals of about 2 mm., towards the centre of the disc. 
Unlike those previously described as typical, these specimens show quite distinct siphono¬ 
zooids, which are not very crowded. About 2—5 occur between two autozooids, whereas 6 — 7 
are noted for the type and 9 —10 for the variety stellata. 
Except as regards the ends of the clubs, which do not appear stellate when seen end 
on, the spicules agree well with those figured by Kukenthal for the variety stellata. Many of 
the spindles have relatively few prominences and these are usually conical knobs. There is also 
a short plump type of spindle with two zones of compound warts and warted ends. Distinct 
clubs are scarce in these specimens, most of them being more like a spindle with slightly 
thickened ends and few processes. 
Previously recorded from Red Sea, Port Denison, Viti islands, Reunion, Ceylon, Maldives. 
