A revision of the genera of the Alcyonaria stolonifera, with a descripton of one new genus and several new species, in Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, XIII (Part 9), 325-347

London: Zoological Society of London, 1894. First edition.

1894 - STRIKING COLOR LITHOGRAPHED PLATES OF CORALS.

25x32 cm offprint in printed paper wraps, pp. (325-) 347, unopened, 6 fine lithographed plates (5 colored) and text-figures. Light soiling to wrappers; short tears to page edges, wear to spine; some corner creases, very good minus. SYDNEY JOHN HICKSON (1859 - 1940), FRS, was a British zoologist known for his groundbreaking research in evolution, embryology, genetics, and systematics. The Manchester Museum has many specimens of coral that came from Sydney Hickson, a specialist on corals and one-time Professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester. These include a number of type specimens of names published by Hickson and others, including Stanley Gardiner. Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a subclass of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans and sea whips) within three orders: Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea.[1] These organisms have an internal skeleton secreted by mesoglea and polyps with eight tentacles and eight mesentaries. As with all Cnidarians these organisms have a complex life cycle including a motile phase when they are considered plankton and later characteristic sessile phase.