188 



CAMPANTJLINID^. 



mitted by Van Beneden. While the Belgian naturalist's 

 genus is retained, there can be no doubt that Alder's spe- 

 cific name is entitled to precedence, as he has given us the 

 first full diagnosis and an admirable figure. Dr. Strethill 

 Wright's valuable observations on the reproductive zooid 

 complete the history of this species. 



Mr. Alder remarks that the polypite, ' ' when extended, 

 stretches far beyond the cell, the latter adhering closely 

 to it and becoming cylindrical;^ it frequently changes 

 form. The tentacles are alternately elevated and de- 

 pressed, so as to form two circles. The beautiful web 

 which unites their bases is "studded with thread -cells of 

 very large size, ranged along each side of the tentacles ' J 

 (Wright). (Woodcut, fig. 21.) The stem is sometimes 



Fig. 21. 



simple, bearing a single polypite only; but in other 

 cases it is repeatedly branched, and "is transformed 

 into a more or less bushy shrub, covered with polypites, 

 and rarely bearing a large Medusa-bud, which is generally 

 developed from the first stem" (Wright}. The hydro- 

 theca is extremely membranaceous and yielding, becoming 



