TUBULARIAE 



103 



FAMILY 10. TUBULARIIDAE. 



Trophosome: polyps solitary or colonial, of large size and bright 

 pink in color; hydranths with a basal and a distal whorl of filiform ten- 

 tacles. Gonosome: medusoids remain attached to the polyp, being sus- 

 pended from long-branched stalks above the basal tentacles and varying 

 in form from sporosacs to perfect medusae ; no free medusae ; the female 

 medusoids produce peculiar free-swimming hydroid-like bodies called 

 actinules: 1 genus. 



TUBTTLARIA L. With the characters of the family : about 20 species. 



Key to the species of Tubularia here described : 



a l Polyps unbranched, in groups of 4 to 8 ; medusoids with distinct radial 



canals T. COUTHOUYI 



a 2 Polyps branched ; often no distinct radial canals in medusoids. 



&! Hydranth with collar T. LARYNX 



6 2 No collar present. 

 Cj Hydranth large ; often in muddy water. 



d t Sporosac with conical apical process T. SPECTABILTS 



d y Female sporosac with flattened apical process T. CROCEA 



c z Hydranth small ; often in clear water T. TENELLA 



T. couthouyi Agassiz (Fig. 170). 

 Individuals unbranched, 7 to 15 cm. 

 high; hydranth often expanding 20 

 mm. or more, with a basal whorl of 30 

 to 40 tentacles ; medusoid with distinct 

 radial canals: on sandy bottoms in 

 shallow or brackish water, in clusters 

 of 5 to 10 individuals; New England 

 coast. 



T. larynx Ellis and Solander. In- 

 dividuals somewhat branched and ex- 

 tensively annulated and living in clus- 

 ters, 2 to 5 cm. high; a collar-like 

 expansion just below hydranth, the 

 latter with 16 to 20 basal tentacles; 

 female medusoid with a conical apical process and no distinct radial 

 canals : in shallow water from Cape Cod northwards ; California ; Europe ; 

 on rocky and shelly bottoms. 



T. spectabilis (Ag.). Colony irregularly branched, sparsely annu- 

 lated, and 8 to 10 cm. high, growing in a tangled mass; 20 basal ten- 

 tacles: in shallow water from Rhode Island to Bay of Fundy. 



T. tenella (Ag.). Colony 25 to 40 mm. high and like preceding 

 form but more loosely branched: in tide pools and the open ocean; 

 Massachusetts Bay to Bay of Fundy. 



Fig. 170 Tubularia couthouyi 

 (Agassiz). 



