462 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



different species, all of which are extremely beautiful : 

 some form a lengthened ribbon, composed of nume- 

 rous individuals placed side by side, and hence 

 arranged transversely; others again form chains, in 

 which each component member is stretched in the 

 direction of its length, and attached to the one 

 before and the one behind it; while some, like the 

 specimen we have figured (PI. VIII. fig. 6, b), are 

 agglutinated, as it were, in two parallel rows. 



When taken out of the water, the links of the 

 chain fall asunder, owing to the several distinct 

 animals of which it is composed losing their power 

 of adhesion ; and broken-up chains, and separated 

 members of such communities, are not unirequently 

 met with in seas where the Salpse are numerous. 



But other Salpse are also to be found, very dissimilar 

 in form from the preceding (PL VIII. fig. 6, a), which 

 are never united together in chains, and might easily 

 be looked upon as belonging to a distinct race, but 

 which have been proved by recent discoveries to be 

 in reality the parents and the progeny of the con- 

 catenated individuals ; the offspring of these solitary 

 Salpse being united together in long ribbons, such as 

 we have already described (PL VIII. fig. 6, c), which 

 in their turn give birth to isolated animals ; in other 

 words, the chained Salpse do not produce chained 

 Salpse, but solitary Salpse, which in their turn give 

 birth, not to solitary beings, but chained ; conse- 

 quently a Salpa-mother is not like its daughter, or 

 its own mother, but resembles its sister, its grand- 

 daughter, and its grandmother. These remarkable 

 animals are most difficult subjects for observation : 



