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Show 822 MR. J. Y. J O H N S O N O N T H E [June 20, tentacles, pale brown in colour, surround a puffed-out mouth, the whole covered with vibratile cilia. Tbe polyps are very full of stinging-threads (fig. III. 6, p. 823). "This is the species which Gray referred to Antipathes sub-pinnata E. & S. It differs essentially from that species in the arrangement of the pinnules and in the form of the spines."- Brook, loc. cit. p. 127. One of m y specimens 35 centim. high has a thin base 35 millim. by 25 millim. From this base rise not only the large corallum, but several small ones from 25 to 50 millim. high. This is the commonest of all the species found at Madeira. It is usually attached to loose stones, but in one case within my knowledge a specimen two feet high was growing upon a quaintly shaped metal tankard, tbe whole exterior of which was completely hidden from view by a crust of bryozoa, worm-cases, &c. Individuals of this species are often made common lodging-houses for the use of a heterogeneous throng of guests. More than 25 different forms, including mollusks (Ostrea cochlear and Avicula tarentina), bryozoa, worm-cases, hydrozoa, Polytrema, and sponges, have been seen crowding on the lower branches of a single specimen ; thus offering a great contrast to specimens of Leiopathes glaberrima, which are always free from parasitical attendants, a difference doubtless due to the abundance of spines on the one form and their absence from the other. What is still more curious is that a small stalked cirripede, the Oxynaspis celata of Darwin, is found attached in numbers to the branches of this Aphanipathes and nowhere else. The antipatharian covers the valves of the cirripede with a thin horny coat beset with minute spines. In Alcide d'Orbigny's list of the zoophytes of the Canary Islands, in W e b b and Berthelot's work, appears the name of Antipathes subpinnata Ellis & Sol. This may have been a specimen of Aph. wollastoni. Hab. Madeira; Selvagens or Salvages ; Canary Islands ? Var. PILOSA, nov. Busby, branching irregularly ; in general characters resembling the typical species, but a distinct aspect is given to the present form (1) by the ultimate branchlets being stouter with reference to the branch from which they spring; (2) the angle they make with the branch is more obtuse ; (3) they spread in all directions from the branch, whereas in the typical species the ultimate branchlets have a tendency to spread in one plane. The spines have much the same form as in the typical species: that is, they are long, slender, pointed and directed forwards, and are arranged in longitudinal rows; but in the present form they differ by being longer in regard to the diameter of the branch on which they are placed, and by being less closely set (fig. III. A ) . On the lower part of the stem the spines are frequently forked at the top. This variety is remarkable iu this, that the stem bears numerous |
