128 TUBTJLAHIIDTE. 



ing in this respect from the oral series, which act as pur- 

 veyors to the mouth. The number can only be stated ap- 

 proximately, as it varies with age. The arms are pure 

 white; while the proboscis is pink, and the clusters of 

 gonozooids orange-coloured. Forbes says of the Cory- 

 morpha, that " when placed in a vessel of sea- water it pre- 

 sented the appearance of a beautiful flower. Its head 

 gracefully nodded (whence the appropriate specific appella- 

 tion given it by Sars), bending the upper part of its stem. 

 It waved its long tentacles to and fro at pleasure, but 

 seemed to have no power of contracting them. Its beauty 

 excited the admiration of all who saw it." 



The membranous sheath, according to Allman, invests 

 the entire stem, lying close to it on the upper part, and 

 forming a loose corrugated sac below. Forbes and Goodsir 

 represent it as deciduous, and state that it disappears in 

 the adult, with the exception of the part that envelopes 

 the base. In the specimens which I have examined it 

 covered a large portion of the stem, but did not extend so 

 far as the base of the polypite. It probably varies with age. 



A number of tubular and extensile appendages are given 

 off from the lower part of the stem, which are free pro- 

 longations of the longitudinal canals. I have little doubt 

 that they are organs of attachment, as I have always found 

 them immersed in the sand, and they are generally thickly 

 coated with it. But, besides these larger processes, the 

 whole of the conical base gives off an immense number of 

 extremely delicate threads, often of very considerable 

 length, which form an entangled mass of interlacing fibres. 

 These are very adhesive ; and spreading in all directions 

 through the sand, they gather the particles about them and 

 form a complicated and tenacious root, by which the zoo- 

 phyte is securely fixed in its place. If the sand be carefully 

 removed, the extremity is seen to be completely villous. 



