I IO 
Descriptive Notes: 
Colony as a whole. Contour interrupted or discontinuous. A single, young colony. 
Branching. Branches of varied lengths and growing in one plane. The colony therefore 
ought to be referred to Kukenthal’s “B” section of the group Divaricatae, and certainly in 
the neighbourhood of D. klunzingeri. 
Colouring. Predominantly reddish yellow in the twigs and polyp stalks, elsewhere whitish. 
Polyp stalks very short. 
Polyps. Each bundle of polyps is rather like a close corymb and contains io — 12 heads. 
Polyp spicules. The anthocodial armature of 8—10 pairs of white spicules, closely apposed 
en chevron, with no more than a hint of projection, is the salient feature of the colony. 
Owing to their white colour these spicules stand out very conspicuously. Their surface is covered 
irregularly with minute tubercles, which are much more crowded towards the tips. 
The supporting bundle is strongly developed, its largest spicules projecting for 0.75 mm. 
Other spicules. The stem has loosely disposed spindles, tending to be slender. Many of 
them have only minute and rather distant spinules, while those of the surface of the sterile 
stalk show a development of thorns. There are, besides spindles, many irregular triradiates, 
quadriradiates, and brackets. 
Kukenthal lays stress on the great reduction of the sterile stalk. This is far from the 
case in this specimen, where it occupies 1.5 cm. out of a total height of 4 cm. But the propor¬ 
tion of stalk to polyparium in Dendronephthya is of no systematic importance. 
Kukenthal also notes that the outermost polyps bore markedly projecting spicules at 
the tips of the points. Of this feature this specimen shows no more than a trace; but the 
characteristic anthocodial armature is clearly that of D. klunzingeri. 
Previously recorded from the Red Sea. 
5. Dendronephthya japonica Kukenthal. 
For description see: KUKENTHAL, Revision der Alcyonarien, 1905, pp. 576 — 577. 
Stat. 279. Rumah-Kuda-bay, Roma-island. 36 M. Mud and sand. 3 Ex. 
Anthocodial Grade and Formula : 
II = 6—8 p -f- o Cr -f- weak S. B. 
Three divaricate colonies with very long sterile stalks should be referred to Ivukenthal’s 
suensoni-group. The armature of the anthocodiae places them in Sherriffs’ Divaricate Grade II, 
while the very characteristic small stellate spicules in the sterile stalk point to D. japonica. 
The largest colony has a sterile stalk 10.5 cm. long, by 2 cm. in diameter at the base, 
tapering to 1 cm. at the top. Surmounting the stalk is the polyparium 7 cm. across and 5 cm. 
high. From the top of the stalk two very thick branches diverge at right angles, while between 
them there is a third thinner and shorter branch. These again are very much branched, the 
lower branches in all cases being foliaceous. The general outline of the polyparium is almost 
circular, but it is markedly flattened. The general colour is white, but the spicules of the foli¬ 
aceous part are orange-yellow. On the basal 2 cm. of the sterile stalk the colour is pink. 
A second colony has a stalk 9 cm. long, while the polyparium is 3 cm. high and 5.5 cm. 
