CRYSTALLINE VASES AND THEIE INHABITANTS. 41 



The Floscule is developed from an egg, and 

 when young, like some others we have described, 

 has two red eyes and is free to roam about as it 

 likes."*" After a time it attaches itself generally to 

 some plant and develops its habitation. This consists 

 of a gelatinous secretion, very transparent, and is 

 formed into a cylinder or tube around its body, 

 in which it lives. One is not impressed with a 

 sense of its security, as is the case with M. 

 ringens, so much as with its beauty. Its dwel- 

 ling being transparent, all its charms are seen, and 

 the wonder is that it escapes its enemies. One 

 arrangement, however, is very curious, as being 

 apparently designed for protection. When the 

 Floscule retires within the vase, the flower-like 

 crown with the five or six bunches of long bristles 

 is folded over transversely ; but the bristles, being 

 so long and thus drawn together, form a projecting 

 broom-like appendage, rather formidable to any 

 would-be intruder. Now, the vase being so trans- 

 parent, this arrangement, if intended for protection, 



* The eyes, both in Floscule and Stephanoceros, are generally 

 supposed to exist only in the young. This is an error, for I 

 have repeatedly demonstrated by experiment their existence in the 

 adult forms. 



