Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Original Description
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"Salicornaria malvinensis, Busk (P1. XII. figs. 1, 5, 7).

Salicornaria malvinensis, Bk., Brit. Mus. Cat., vol. i. p. 18, pl lxiii. figs. 1, 2.

Cellaria malvinensis, Waters, Bryoz. S. W. Victoria, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., August 1881,

p. 321, p1. xiv. fig. 3.

Character.-Zoarium dichotomous, 2 to 3 inches high, composed of unequal internodes, sometimes much elongated, sometimes short and thick; joints nodular. Areas hexagonal or pyriform when young; surface smooth, no interior ridges. Orifice crescentic, transversely elongate. Operculum semicircular or subcrescentic, angular, apparent foramina small. Avicularia vicarious; mandible spear-shaped, with a very wide base and large inferior foramen; apex acuminate, incurved, 0"013 x 008 to 0"0095 X 008.

Habitat.-Station 149D, Royal Sound, Kerguelen, 28 fathoms. Off Marion Island, 50 to 75 fathoms. Station 304, lat. 460 53' 5., long. 75° 12' W., 45 fathoms, green sand. Station 315, lat. 51° 40' S., long. 57° 50' W., 12 fathoms, sand and gravel. Station 176, lat. 18° 30'S., long. 173° 52' E., 1450 fathoms, Globigerina ooze. Port William, Falkland Islands; 5 to 10 fathoms. [South Patagonia, Falkland Isles, Strait of Magellan, Darwin; Mount Gambier (fossil), Waters.]

Salicornaria malvinensis presents considerable diversity of habit in different localities, so much so, that at first I had designated one of its varieties, characterised by the shortness and thickness of the internodes and the comparatively large size of the orifice, Salicornaria megastoma; but further examination has shown no essential differential characters between this and the forms with elongated and slenderer internodes. In the variety from Station 315 (fig. 7) a further exception to the more usual character is seen in the granular surface of the interareolar septa, when the epitheca has been removed. " (Busk, 1884: 91)