68 
3, Lobophytum hedleyi Whitelegge. 
For description see: WHITELEGGE, Alcyonaria of Funafuti, Part I, Memoirs Australian Museum, 
1897, III, pp. 216— 17, 8 figs. 
Stat. 115. Kwandang Bay. Reef. 7 Ex. 
Stat. 250. Kur-island. Reef. 1 Ex. 
Stat. . Unrecorded. 1 Ex. 
Numerous dull brown specimens with many finger-like branches, rising from the disc- 
expansion of a substantial sterile trunk, 6 cm. in height and about 5 cm. in diameter. The 
disc has a maximum length of 8 cm. and a breadth of 6 cm. A common length for a 
digitiform branch is 2 cm. with a breadth of 5 mm. They are very crowded and thus they 
are sometimes compressed. The trunk shows marked longitudinal plications especially in the 
larger colonies. 
In many cases the finger-like branches arise not directly from the disc but from a somewhat 
flabellate primary lobe. 
The autozooids are relatively few and distant. The siphonozooids are crowded and visible 
to the unaided eye. 
The spicules include the following forms : 
(a) Most characteristic, the numerous, stout, subcylindrical forms, with four whorls of compound 
tubercles; some approach double spheres; 0.14x0.08mm.; 
( [b ) longer substantial spindles, with more zones of compound tubercles; 0.22 x0.07mm.; 
(r) similar narrower sharp-pointed spindles; 0.28x0.05 mm.; 
id) numerous pseudo-clubs with compound tubercles; 0.12X0.05 mm.; 
(e) small narrow spindles with two zones of short prominences; 0.11 X 0.02 mm.; 
(f) a few crosses. 
A small colony, about 5 cm. in height, shows an irregularly folded capitulum, with the 
beginnings of the digitate outgrowths which are marked in the larger forms. It should be noted 
that Whitelegge’s specimen was a young form with little hint of digitation, and here we may 
record again our conviction that the mode of growth is very unimportant in young colonies. 
The autozooids are sparse in most places, more marked at the tips of the lobes. The 
siphonozooids are crowded and distinctly visible to the unaided eye. Very characteristic is the 
abundance of acutely-pointed multi-zoned spindles and blunt multi-zoned forms of a more cylin¬ 
drical type. 
Among the distinctive features of L. hedleyi the following may be noted : 
(a) the long drawn-out lobes of the larger specimens; 
( b ) the harsh texture of the sterile stalk as distinguished from the lobes ; 
(c) the long intervals between the autozooids, 2 mm. being common; and the large number 
(up to 10) of siphonozooids between; 
(d) the numerous very compact warty double-spheres, as in Whitelegge’s fig. 2 e ; 
(e) the presence of small spindles, smooth except two zones, as shown in Whitelegge’s fig. 2 g. 
Previously recorded from Funafuti. 
