13 



the lateral folds, projecting into the cavity below the stomach ; and 

 a few eggs were still suspended to those bunches, which consisted of 

 curled threads, coiled irregularly into four bunches. Besides these, 

 there were two other threads hanging more loosely from two other 

 partitions, which, probably were spermatic cords, though I could not 

 detect any spermatic cells in connection with them. But the difference 

 in the aspect of these threads, when contrasted with those from which 

 the eggs hang, will scarcely leave any doubt as to their real nature. 

 The fluid contained in the main cavity circulates regularly up and 

 down between the partitions, and the currents extend into the tenta- 

 cles and follow up the sinuosities of their lobes to the summit of the 

 tentacles, returning in the opposite direction. 



The movements of the individual polyps are regulated by bundles 

 of contractile fibres extending along the partitions in the main wall 

 of the body. These bundles are attached above and below to clus- 

 ters of calcareous spiculae, which are arranged in a regular order in 

 the form of prominent cords within the outer wall of each partition, 

 and upon the outer wall of each tentacle, at its base. These spiculee 

 are microscopic stems of a ragged appearance, formed, probably, by 

 the reunion of a number of calcareous crystals developed in distinct 

 cells, and united together in a somewhat regular manner, so as to 

 form longitudinal stems with irregular projections upon their surface. 

 Numbers of these little stems converge, in two parallel rows with 

 their tips towards the tip of the tentacles, and others from the base 

 assume a similar arrangement, and form larger cones around the 

 base of the tube of the animal. 



The point of insertion of the contractile fibres is in the narrow 

 angles between those clusters, and they rise from the base of the 

 tube upwards to the base of the tentacles, thus extending over the 

 whole length of that part of the tube which is most contractile and 

 retractile. 



It remains to be seen whether the specimen of this animal which 

 fell into my hands was quite full grown; for it is possible that the 

 cluster observed was the beginning of a larger body, to be formed 

 by the addition of a greater number of individual polypi growing out 

 of the common base. 



Should it be found, upon further investigation, that this type is a 

 permanent combination, and that the stalk never grows to a bulky 

 mass, and that the polypi arising from it are always proportionally 

 so much larger than the stem itself, it may constitute a generic type 



