MOPSEAD.E. 13 35. PABISIS.
" Coral irregularly branching, nearly on a plane. The axis consists alternately of calcareous and suberous segments, of uniform thickness, traversed by numerous narrow sulcations. The branches originate from the calcareous segments. Ccenenchyma [bark] persistent, rather thin, somewhat membranous, with a rough surface. Cells cylindrical, narrow, prominent, arranged irregularly on all sides of the branchlets, but often absent on the median surfaces of the larger branches." — Verrill.
Parisis, Verrill, Bull Mm. Comp. Zool 1865, p. 36. Proc. Essex Inst. 1865.
89. Parisis fmticosa. B.M.
Large, flabelliform; the principal branches, arising irregularly along the sides of the trunk, divide and subdivide rapidly into smaller branches and branchlets, producing a densely ramulose frond ; the branches ascend and diverge usually at an angle of about 50° ; the branchlets often spread at right angles, and do not coalesce. Papillae numerous, crowded on the branchlets, conical. Colour greyish yellow. Axis white ; internodes yellowish brown. Parisis fruticosa, Verrill, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. p. 38. Hob. Sooloo Sea (Dana).
90. Parisis laxa.
Coral forming openly reticulate fronds ; papillae numerous, rounded on all sides of the branches ; ccenenchyma minutely villous in alcohol. Calcareous joints shorter and iuternodes longer, than in P. fruticosa, Yerrill.
Parisis laxa, Verrill, Proc. Essex Inst. 1865, v. pp. 152, 190. Hal. Hong-Kong ( W. Stimpson).
Coral flabelliform, loosely branched, openly reticulated, only a few of the branches coalescent ; branchlets spreading nearly at right angles, somewhat elongated, curved, obtuse at the ends. Papillae rather large, irregularly crowded. Ccenenchyma thin, roughened by the points of the minute spicules. Axis slender, consisting of white calcareous joints, alternating with shorter dark-brown ones of the same thickness, but softer. Colour, in alcohol, light grey. Height 3 inches, width 3 inches, diameter of branches i inch. Colour, in life, bright light blue.
Section II. Axis articulated, stony, solid; articulations short, contracted, horny or cartilaginous, branches from the horny joints. Fam. 9. MOPSEAD^E.
Coral branched, expanded in a plane ; branches dichotomous, free ; branchlets dichotomous or pinnate. Bark thin, smooth, spongy. Polype-cells prominent, small, cylindrical, in series or whorls on each
14 MOPSEAD.E.
edge of the branches. Axis articulated, calcareous, solid, expanded at the base ; articulations contracted, short, cork-like or cartilaginous. Branches from the contracted horny articulations. * Coral dichotomous ; polype-cells on the edge of the branches. 36. ISIDELLA.
Coral branched, furcate. Axis smooth, cylindrical ; stony joints elongate ; branches furcate, proceeding from the corneous joints. Bark rather thick, with irregular opaque spicula. Polypiferous cells produced, subcylindrical. Base of axis expanded, lobed, and branched. Isidella, Gray, P. Z. 8. 1857, p. 283.
Isis (in part), Milne- Edw. fy Haime, Cor all. i. p. 193. 91. Isidella elongata. B.M.
Branches very few and frequently anastomosed, round, elongate ; joints elongate, deeply grooved ; internodes narrow. Bark unknown. Frutex marinus &c., Seba, Thes. iii. 1. 106. f. 4. Isis elongata, Esper, i. t. 65 Latnk. Mem. ed. 2, p. 475 ; Milne- Edw. Corall. i. p. 196.
Isidella elongata, Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 283. Mopsea elongata, Philippi, Wiegm. Arch. 1842, p. 38. Mopsea mediterranea, Risso, Eur. Merid. p. 322, f. 1. Hab. Mediterranean; Naples.
Polypes long, exsert, and not retractile, forming a slender wart ; closed polypes mostly reversed (fide Risso's fig.)- The branches of I. elongata are said to be often anastomosed, and for this reason it appears to be separated from /. gracilis ; but I have never seen them in that state (Lamx. Pol. Flex. p. 477). 92. Isidella gracilis.
Base expanded, laminated ; stem and branches cylindrical ; branches few; joint of axis rather thick; of upper part elongate, translucent, smooth, white ; articulation swollen. Isis gracilis, Lamx. Polyp. Flex. p. 477, 1. 18. f. 1, Enc. Meth. p. 466 ; Kollilter, Ic. Hist. p. 140, 1. 15. f. 3; Milne-Edw. in Lamk. Hist. A. s. V. ed. 2, ii. p. 476.
Mopsea gracilis, Dana, Exp. p. 679 ; Milne-Edw. fy Haime, Corall. i. p.198.
Hab. West Indies.
Milne-Edwards places this as a Mopsea, and Isis elongata as an Isis, though it is figured by Esper as with the branches arising from the cartilaginous joints.
93. Isidella coralloides.
Branches forked, reddish, very slender ; branchlets remote, rather short. Bark with scattered ascending pajoillce. The calcareous joints
37. MOPSEA. 15 very short, broader than long, and shorter than the horny internodes ; internodes cylindrical, contracted in the middle, rose-red. Isis coralloides, Lamk. Mem. Mm. i. p. 416, Hist. A. s. V. ed. 2. ii. p. 476 ; Milne-Edw. Corall. i. p. 195.
Mopsea P, Dana, Exp. p. 680.
IsideUa? coralloides, Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 284. Hob. South Sea.
94. Isidella eburnea.
Arborescent, slender, dichotomous. Calcareous joints long, cylindrical, faintly striated, seldom quite straight, not swollen at the ends. Corneous joints very short. (In one case a long straggling branch, entirely corneous, has grown from a calcareous joint, and bears four polypes.) Polypes scattered, bright orange, generally arising from the calcareous joints, but also occasionally from the corneous ones, surrounded by a spirally twisted bundle of long spicules, of which eight longer ones project around the tentacles. The latter are pinnate, and strengthened in their whole length by a chain of blunt cylindrical spicules. * The colour of the whole corallum, with the exception of the corneous joints and the polypes, is pure white.
Mopsea eburnea, Pourtales, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 1868, p. 133. Hob. A fine specimen, 4 inches high, was obtained, in 517 fathoms, off Sombrero Light, Florida. The diameter of the thickest part is y1^ of an inch. The root was not brought up.
** Coral pinnate ; cells whorled.
37. MOPSEA.
Coral branched, fan-shaped ; branches pinnate. Axis jointed ; stony joint short; branches from the short horny articulation. Bark hard, with imbedded spicula. Polypiferous cells produced, wart-like, subverticillate, Ascending, rather incurved.
Mopsea, Lamx. Polyp. Flex. 1816, p. 466, Corallina, p. 233. Isis, sp., Lamk. Hist. A. s. V. ed. 2. ii. p. 474. Mopsea, B B, Milne-Ediv. fy Haime, Corall. i. p. 197 : Dana. Exp. p. 678 ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 284.
Isis, **Mopsea, Schweigger, Beob. 1819, 1. 10. The bark is much thinner than that of Isis hippuris. The cells are very like those of Gorgonia verticillaris ; but they are more scattered on the stem.
95. Mopsea encrinnla. B.M.
Coral branched; branches pinnate or subbipinnate ; branchlets filiform, papilliferous ; papilla spread, ascending. Isis encrinula, Lamk. Hist. ii. p. 302, and, ed. 2, ii. p. 476. Mopsea verticillata, Lamx. Polyp. Flex. p. 467, t. 18. f. 2. Isis (Mopsea) verticillata, 8chweigger, Beob. Syn. 1819, f. 10. Isis dichotoma, Schweigger, Handb. p. 434.
16 ACA.NELLAD2E.
Mopsea encrinula. Ehrenb. C. r. M. p. 131 ; Dana, Exp. p. 679 : Gray. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 284.
Mopsea encrinula, Milne-Edw. Coratt. i. p. 198.
Hob. Australia?
Farn. 10. ACANELLAD^E.
Coral bushy, ovate, like a fox's tail. Stem simple, with long stony, and shorter cartilaginous joints, and with verticillate, simple or branched branches, from the horny internodes. The bark very thin, with elongate, fusiform, semitransparent, smooth spicules. Polype-cells scattered, narrow at the base, wider at the mouth, and covered with lanceolate, elongate, smooth, fusiform spines, eight of which are produced beyond the edge of the cell.
38. ACANELLA.
Coral shrub-like, branched, dichotomous ; stony joints elongate, cylindrical, finely longitudinally striated ; branches from the cartilaginous joints, verticillate ; branchlets very numerous, branched, diverging, tortuous, forming an oblong tuft, like a fox's tail ; interjoints very short, cartilaginous, contracted. Bark thin, skin-like, containing long large fusiform and small cylindrical, very tuberculated spicules. Polype-cells on the sides of the branchlets sessile, of the apex of the joints funnel-shaped, twisted, with eight long, erect, spine-like spicules.
96. AcaneUa arbuscula. B.M.
Mopsea arbusculum, Johnson, Ann. fyMag. Nat. Hist. 3rd ser. xi.p.299; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 245, pi. xxxi. f. 1, 1 a. Hob. Madeira.
" The whole coral is coated with a thin brown skin. When this skin has been removed from the lower calcareous joints, they are found to be stony, white, subcylindrical, but rather narrower at the middle than at either end. They are finely striate longitudinally, and the striae are parallel and straight. The interjoints do not nearly equal the joints in length, being little more than disks, and are somewhat less in diameter ; they are striate ; and from them spring the branches. These branches are very numerous, diverging in all directions subdichotomously, and making a tolerably thick bush. They are much thinner than the main stem, and they become gradually more slender upwards, the calcareous joints at the same time becoming longer. Occasionally two of the ultimate branchlets come into contact and are soldered together. Each branchlet bears
38. ACANELLA. 17 at its apex a cell of a shape between campanulate and infundibuliform, the margin of which bears eight pairs of long, upright, spinelike spicula. There are also sessile cells at the sides of the ultimate branchlets, one at eacji interjoint. All the cells are of a pale brown colour. The pellicle covering the branchlets contains long spicula, Acanella arbuscula.
which are for the most part large and fusiform, whilst the smaller ones are cylindrical, and all are brown and minutely tuberculated. "A single example of this coral was obtained from a fisherman at Cama de Lobos, Madeira, and it is now in the British Museum. Its length, without the base, which is wanting, is 13 inches, and it is
18 KERATOISIDJ3.
• 7 inches across. The lower part of the main stem has a diameter of three tenths of an inch in length. The branches are broken away from this part of the stem ; but there are remains to show that some of the inter] oints bore four branches, others only one. A cell, with its marginal spines, measures the fifth of an inch." — Johnson, I. c. 39. EaUISETELLA.
Coral erect, with whorls (?) of elongated, simple, jointed branches. Bark and polype-cells unknown.
97. Equisetella Gregorii, B.M.
Stem thick, erect (?) ; branches verticillate (?), very long, slender, filiform, with elongate, slender, smooth joints ; horny articulations short.
Isis Gregorii, Gray, Ann. $ Mac/. Nat. Hist.IS68, ii. p. 263. Hob. Japan.
The branch in the British Museum is 26 inches long. Fam. 11. KERATOISID^E.
Coral branched, tree-like, dichotomous ; branches cylindrical. Bark thick, formed of abundant, longitudinally placed, elongate fusiform spicules. Polype-cells subcylindrical, wider at top, covered with spicules, and with eight or ten long spicules on the edge. Polypes retractile. The axis, calcareous joints long, smooth, the cartilaginous short.
40. KERATOISIS.
" Polypidom branched ; axis of the stem and branches consisting of nodes and internodes, the former stony, the latter horny ; the stony joints vary from \ to 1 inch in length ; the branches rise from the stony nodes, are not numerous, and present rather a straggling appearance. The axis is covered with a barky layer, around which the polypes arise ; this layer is studded over with numerous large fusiform spicules, which completely cover the ectodermic layer of the polypes. Eight or ten large spicules (about \ inch each in length) form a circle around each polype ; these spicules are fusiform. Colour, when fresh, a light pink."
Keratoisis, Perceval Wright, in Ann, $ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, ii. p. 427, 1869, iii. p. 24.
The spicules of the bark not warty but smooth, those surrounding the cells upon the polypes of great length.
ISID.E. 19 98. Keratoisis Grayii, B.M.
Keratoisis Grayii, Perceval Wright, in Ann. fy Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, ii. p. 427, 1869, iii. p. 24, fig. Ficr-6. Fig. 7.
Fig. 6 represents a portion of the main axis, deprived of coenenchyma and of nearly all its polypes. Fig. 7 represents a branch, of the natural size, with the polypes. Fig. 8. A polype magnified.
Hab. Lisbon (Bocage). From a depth of about 400 fathoms, off the coast near Setubal in Portugal. Fam 12. ISIDJE.
Coral branched, tree-like or fan-shaped ; branches from the stony joints. Axis hard, articulated, composed of alternating portions of hard calcareous and flexible horny black or brown matter. Bark granular, with irregular-shaped calcareous spicules, smooth, external. Polype-cells very small, scattered over the whole surface of the bark. Isidinse, JBGiffiker, Ic. Hist. p. 140. c2
20 TSIDJE.
Isinae, Dana, Expl. Exped. Zoo})h. 1846, p. 077: Milne-Edw. Brit. Foss. Corall. p. 81.
Isidea, Ehrenb. C. r. M. p. 133.
Isidese, Lamx. Polyp. Flex. p. 458, Corall. p. 229 ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 283 ; Gray, Ann. $ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1859, iv. p. 442. 41. ISIS.
Coral branched, furcate. Axis striated ; branches proceeding from the calcareous articulations. Bark thick, hard, with a few interspersed, very irregular and unequal spicula. Polypiferous cells very small, sunken, scattered over the whole surface (Esper, t. 3 a). Base of coral expanded, tuberous.
Isis, Linn. S. N. p. 1287; Pallas, Zooph. p. 220 ; Solander $ Ellis, p. 101 ; Lamk. Syst. A. s. V. p. 378 ; Lamx. Polyp. Flex. p. 468 j Milne-Edw. Sf Haime, Corall. i. p. 193 : Gray, P. Z.S. 1857, p. 283 ; Kolliker, Ic. Hist. p. 140.
Cymosaire, Lamk. M6m. Mus. i. p. 467.
Hippurium, Oken, Lehrb. 1815, t. 2.
The bark is very thick, with a few interspersed, very irregular, and unequal spicules, and when dry is rather brittle, but is as permanent as that of a Gorgonia. It is figured by Solander, Zooph. t. 8. Ellis has justly observed that the sailors generally take it off during the passage to this country to show the black joints. Lamarck, misled by this circumstance, never having seen the back, describes it as " caduce en totalite" p. 300 ; he thought that it was gelatinous. It is very apt to fall off if the specimens are kept in a dry place (see form of spicula or bark &e., Quekett, Lectures on Histology, ii. p. 125, f. 64, and Kolliker, 1. c. t. xvi. f. 4, t. xix. f. 1, 2, 3. The articulations between the joints generally become obliterated near the base of the coral of the older specimens, either by the contraction and solidification of the horny part, or by the horny portions becoming covered with a calcareous deposit.
G. Humphrey, in the Portland Museum (lot 3490), observed a fine specimen of the base or root of the Isis hippuris, which is white, not jointed, with the black woody parts, as in the stem and branched part that was next the body, quite flat. He adds it is not figured by any author, and is extremely rare. Lamarck, not aware of this fact, established for the root of a specimen which had the joint so obliterated the genus Cymosaire ; but he soon discovered his error and corrected it, with his usual honesty and straightforwardness. " Le genre Cymosaire (Mem. du Mus. vol. i. p. 467) doit etrc supprime. Je le fondoit par erreur sur la vue d'une portion d'axe a nu d'une Isis, dont la base offre un empalement rameux et en cyme ombelliforme."— Lamk. A. s. V. ii. p. 393 ; see Seba, iii. 1. 105. f. 3. Professor Steenstrup has divided the genus into several species, according to the form and length of the stony joints. I have not been able to decide if they are species or only accidental varieties. The coral is very variable from the same locality. /. hippuris. The stony joints elongate, cylindrical, or narrow in the middle, two or three times as long as thick. Amboina.