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Show 816 MR. J. Y. JOHNSON O N T H E [June 20, but I have a specimen which has put forth a very slender spineless branch 150 millim. (nearly 6 in.) long. This abnormality was perhaps due to the fact that the upper end of the stem, four or live inches above the ramus, had been broken off by some accident, and the branch may have been the result of an effort on the part ot tne colony of polyps to continue their growth. With regard to the spines, those of all the specimens I have seen are simple and conical, but Brook says that the majority oi ™°se on the older portions on the stems of specimens in the British Museum formed double spines. Hab. Madeira. STICHOPATHES SETACEA Gray. Antipathes (Cirripathes) setacea, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N . H . ser. 3, vol. vi. p. 31 (1860). ? Antipathes simplex, Alcide d'Orbigny in Webb & Berthelot's Hist. Nat. des lies Canaries, Zoologie : Polypiers, p. 151. Dr. Gray's description of his A. setacea runs thus :-" Coral simple, elongate, setaceous, straight, erect, closely covered with short conical spinules. Length 18 in. Hab. Madeira." H e said further that it was straight, without the slighest tendency to assume a spiral form. Mr. Brook (Antipatharia of the ' Challenger,' p. 90) stated that he had been unable to find Gray's type of A. setacea, and added-" As I have no means of ascertaining what form Gray did regard as A. setacea, and as his description of the type contains no characacter not applicable to this species (i. e. Stichopathes gracilis Gray), I have given A. setacea as a probable synonym." In going over m y collection of Antipatharia for the purpose of preparing this paper, 1 have found a small specimen, which, fragmentary as it is, proves beyond a doubt that Gray's A. setacea is a good species, quite distinct from Stichopathes gracilis. The specimen referred to is a portion of a stem broken at both ends; what remains has a length of only 14*5 millim. (5| in.), with a diameter at the thicker end of scarcely so much as "75 millim. It tapers very gradually, and there is a wide central channel. It is bent into a semicircular form, and it has a brown colour. The spines are numerous and arranged in longitudinal rows, of which about six may be seen in one aspect. They are upright, high in comparison with the diameter of the stems, and more or less compressed. A few are simple and pointed, but most of them are bifid or notched irregularly at the tips (fig. III. 2, p. 823). Sometimes there are narrow longitudinal ridges bearing as many as five spikes. Measuring from tip to tip of the spines in the same row, the interval between any two is about equal to three or four times the height of each. Polyps are altogether absent. The specific name and Gray's epithet " setaceous " are suitable enough to this very slender form, but are quite inapplicable to Stichopathes gracilis. Alcide d'Orbigny (loc. cit.), a reference not given by Brook, described a small Antipathes from the Canaries, |
