No. 1624. DESCRIPTIONS OF HAWAITAN ALCYONARIA—NUTTING. 597 
Family GORGONELLID Wright and Studer. 
Branched forms with a calcareous axis, thin smooth coenenchyma, 
and biradially disposed polyps. Spicules small warty double clubs 
and stellate forms. Longitudinal furrows on the flattened anterior 
and posterior faces of the stems and larger branches. 
Genus VERRUCELLA Milne Edwards. 
Colony branched, calyces wart-like, surmounted by an eight-rayed, 
star-like pseudo-operculum formed of the terttacle bases. 
VERRUCELLA BICOLOR, new species. 
Plate XLVI, figs. 6, 7. 
Colony incomplete, 25 mm. high, consisting of a short basal stem 
which almost immediately breaks up into two subequal branches, one 
of which divides dichotomously twice, the other once; one of the 
resultant branches also divides once; the whole form being flabellate. 
Another specimen of about the same size divides into three main 
branches, each of which sends off irregularly disposed branchlets, 
only the end divisions being dichotomous. 
The polyps are distributed on two sides, and sometimes on the back 
of the branches, leaving an area in front which is almost entirely de- 
void of polyps, and which is traversed by two or more longitudinal 
canals which appear superficially as darker longitudinal bands. 
Calyces irregularly spaced, averaging about 14 mm. apart, verruci- 
form, in the shape of low domes when the polyps are retracted, and in 
_the shape of truncated cones when the polyp is expanded. Height 
about 1 mm. 
Spicules, small warty spindles, often curved, sometimes forming 
stars or double stars, uniformly distributed in the cortex and calycu- 
lar walls. Just below the tentacle bases is a row of curved transverse 
spicules like a primitive collaret, and above these two converging 
spicules form the first of the tentacular spicules which are reinforced 
by one to three narrow spindles on each tentacle. These form the 
eight-rayed star-like operculum referred to in the generic definition 
given by Wright and Studer. 3 
Color.—Coral red in one specimen and orange yellow in the other. 
The exposed polyps are yellow. | 
Type.—Cat. No. 25333, U.S.N.M., Albatross Station 3982, off Kauai 
Island, 40-233 fathoms. Red. : 
Additional locality.—Northeast coast of Maui: Station 4072, 59 
fathoms. Yellow. 
Proce. N. M. vol. xxxiv—08——39 
