PERIGONIMUS SERPENS. 95 



ferences noted by Allraan are, that in P. vestitus the stem 

 is rather more developed, and that its reproductive bodies 

 are chiefly (but not exclusively) borne on the stem, whilst 

 those of P. palliatus, as observed by Wright, were confined 

 to the creeping stolon. Further investigation may pro- 

 bably show that the two forms must be united ; it is cer- 

 tainly needed to prove that they are distinct. 



Hub. On an old Buccinum-shell, Firth of Forth, asso- 

 ciated with Hydr actinia echinata (G. J. A.). 



5. P. SERPENS, Allman. 



" Notes on the Ilydroida," Ann. X. II. for January 1863. 



Plate XVI. fig. 3. 



STEMS erect, short, simple, tapering slightly downward, about 

 2 lines in height; POLYPARY delicate, transparent, not 

 dilated at the base of the polypites ; POLYPITES reddish 

 orange, retractile, the body oval, with about 12 or 14 ten- 

 tacles, which are held in complete extension, alternately 

 elevated and depressed; GONOPHORES produced on the 

 creeping stolon, and elevated on rather long peduncles. 



GONOZOOID. UMBRELLA dome-shaped (at the time of 

 liberation), with the vertical slightly exceeding the 

 transverse diameter; MANUBRIUM reaching to about one- 

 half the depth of the bell, with a simple mouth ; MARGINAL 

 TENTACLES 2, opposite, very extensile, and with large 

 reddish-orange bulbs at the base, the intermediate 

 radiating canals terminating each in a very small bulb- 

 ous dilatation. 



THIS is a very brilliant little zoophyte. The polypites, 

 during complete extension, are almost cylindrical, and rise 

 a good way above the top of the stem. They are of a 

 vivid reddish- orange colour, with the exception of the 

 tip of the proboscis, which is whitish. The coenosarc 

 is of the same bright tint as the body of the polypite, 

 so that a colony presents a very gay appearance. 



