220 HALECIIDJ*:. 



a greenish-yellow colour ; HYDROTHEC.E long and slen- 

 der, with an even aperture, the free portion generally 

 curved ; POLYPITES with 8-10 tentacles, stretching to a 

 great distance beyond the opening of the calycle when 

 extended. 



THE calycle is provided with a valve-like operculum, which 

 closes on the retreat of the polypite. Great numbers of 

 planulse are liberated ; and as they escape the mass loses 

 its yellowish colour, which is due to their presence. 



It is not improbable that the Campanularia intertexta of 

 Couch (Conchella intertexta, Gray) may have been founded 

 on the present species ; but the description in the c Cornish 

 Fauna ' is not sufficient for identification. 



Hab. On the stems of other zoophytes, especially Ser- 

 tularia abietina and Hydrallmania falcuta ; common and 

 widely distributed. 



Family VII. Haleciidse. 



HYDKOTHEC^E biscnal, subsessile, jointed to a lateral pro- 

 cess from the stem; POLYPITES partially retractile. 



Genus HALECIUM, Oken *. 



THOA, Lamouroux (1816). 



GENERIC CHARACTER. Zoophi/te plant-like, more or less 

 branched, rooted by a creeping stolon ; hydrothecce biserial, 

 tubular or deeply campanulate, subsesslle, jointed to a short 

 lateral process from the stem ; poly pites partially retractile, 

 large and fusiform ; gonothecce scattered, dissimilar in the 

 two sexes ; reproduction by means of fixed sporosacs. 



THE genus Halecium is somewhat intermediate between 



* Lcln-buch Naturg. 91 (1815). 



