ALCYONIUM

A Linnaean term for an aggregate genus of marine polypes, having a fleshy, coriaceous, spicular axis, beset with stellate cells, containing each a polype with eight radiate denticulate arms. The axis is fixed to foreign bodies, and in some species rises in short branches or lobes, as in that commonly known by the name of" Dead Man's Hand" (Alcyonium digitatum, Lin.; Lobular i a digit at a, Lam.) [s. 42]