The rare deep–water bryozoan genera Nordgaardia and Uschakovia share important similarities in budding patterns and zooid structure together with a ype of avicularium which has an extended subrostral chamber. Ovicells are known only in Nordgaardia and are here described in Australian specimens of N. cornucopioides for the first time. The remarkable spines of Uschakovia gorbunovi are described from a colony from the Faroe Islands; they are extensions of the frontal body wall, and each has a modified parietal muscle at its base.