(3) polyps arising anywhere on the stem and branches; 
(4) polyps included in a verruca or calyx, which is a wart-like or cup-shaped projection of 
spicules from the general coenenchyma; polyps consist of a non-protrusible portion, and 
of a protrusible anthocodial portion, which may or may not be retracted within the verruca; 
(5) armature of the anthocodia consisting of ( a ) a crown or collaret, with a varying number 
of rows of small, bent, horizontal spicules; ( b ) eight points surrounding the base of the 
tentacles, with a varying number of spicules, arranged in different ways, but always 
converging at the apex; 
(6) tentacles folded over the mouth and armed dorsally with minute spindles ; 
(7) digestive cavities canal-like and elongated, penetrating the entire stock, in the twigs, the 
branches, and the main stem ; 
(8) partition walls bounding digestive canals, rigid, filled with spicules; 
(9) only four of the polyp-septa enter into the elongated gastral cavities, namely those which 
bear the gonads and the long narrow mesenterial ridges; 
(10) germ-cells contained within the elongated gastral tubes of the smallest branches. 
To the four genera of the family Siphonogorginae, recognised by Wright and Studer, 
there have since been added: 5. Lemnalia; 6. Stereacanthia; 7. Agaricoides; and 8. Cactogorgia. 
5. As regards the genus Lemnalia Gray, emend. Bourne, it must be noted that the 
whole colony is flaccid, not stiff, that the stem and branches look smooth to the naked eye, 
and that the numerous spicules on the canal walls are small and delicate, not in the least like 
those of a Siphonogorgia. Double four-rayed stars often occur in the outer wall of the stem, 
and scale-like, flattened, branched spicules are typically present on the tentacles. The stalked 
or sessile anthocodiae cannot be retracted, but the tentacles can be tightly folded over the wide 
oral disc. 
6. As regards the genus Stereacanthia Thomson and Henderson, the canal walls are 
thickly packed with large heavy spindles, the anthocodial armature shows eight irregular triangles 
or “points” rising from an indistinct transverse collaret or “crown”; and the spicules are of the 
Siphonogorgia type. The separation of Stereacanthia from Siphonogorgia is justified on the 
following grounds : 
(1) The polyps are borne on stalks. 
(2) There is an external resemblance to some species of Eunephthya. 
(3) Great irregularity occurs in the triangles of the points. 
(4) There is an absence of any definite separation between the irregular collaret and the spicules 
of the stalk. 
7. The unique genus Agaricoides Simpson, placed among Siphonogorgidse on account 
of the thick feltwork of internal stem spicules, stands quite by itself on account of the pedicelled 
anthocodiae. The biserial arrangement of the spicules of the points is continued down to the 
origin of the stalk. No crown or collaret is present. The spicules are long, slender, warty, and 
spiny spindles as in Siphonogorgia; and verrucae are present, into which the anthocodiae can 
be retracted. 
8 . As regards Cactogorgia, a distinctive feature that leaps to the eye is the origin of 
the polyps from the margin of the flattened lobes, coupled with the absence of branching. 
