APLIDIUM FK'l'S. 



25 



A specimen was procured by Ellis from the fisher- 

 men at Whitstable, from which place we have also 

 received one from a friend. Ours is strongly lobed, 

 and measures four and a half inches across. 



[Ellis says that the species "borrows the name of the 

 sea-fig among the fishermen," because " the inside is 

 full of little oblong yellow particles." It is, however, 

 very varied in external form, sometimes greatly resem- 

 bling a fig, a name which would scarcely have been so 

 generally applied to it from its appearance when cut 

 open. Besides being the " Sea-fig " of England, it is 

 the " Figue de mer" of France, the " Fico di mare" of 



y^5M*Sfc c 



4 ! ^ 



FIG. 98. Aplidium ficus. Magnified. (After Ellis, loc. cit.) B, sec- 

 tion through part of the colony ; C, face view of part of the colony ; 

 D, a single individual. 



Italy, the " Higo de mer ' of Spain, the " Figo de 

 mer" of Portugal, the " Seefeige ' of Germany, the 

 " Zeevyg " of Holland, the " Soefigenet" of Denmark, 

 and the " Sjofikon" of Sweden. 



The following references by earlier naturalists than 

 John Ellis probably pertain to Aplidium ficus : 



Halcyonium quintnin. Dioscorides : ' Medica materia ' 

 (1478), lib. V, cap. 90. 



Pulmo marinas alter. Rondelet : ' Insectis et Zoopliytis' 

 (1555), p. 132. 



Alcyonium tuLerosum in for) ml di fico, frutto. Imperati : 

 ' Hist. Nat/ (1599), p. 637, fig. p. 641.' 



Alcyonium tnberosum. Bauhin : ' Hist, plant, univ.' (1651), 

 III, p. 817, fig. 



