hvilket ogsaa er Tilfældet med dets Forlængelse. Fig. 13, 

 saa at Grenenes Coenenchym er noget fastere end Stammens, 

 især i deres centrale Del, hvor Polypernes Mavehulhed 

 smalner betydeligt at' og danner en tin, med Epithel udfyldt 

 Kanal, som gaar over i Stammen. 



I Grenenes periphere Del er Polypernes Mavehulhed 

 videre og forlænger sig hen imod Stammen, hvor den gaar 

 over i en at' dennes Længdekanaler. Paa Grenene iagttages 

 lignende Spilder som paa Stammen, kun ere Dobbeltstjer- 

 nerne og de mere sammensatte Stjerner hyppigere, ligesom 

 en og anden stjerneforme.;', stærkt tornet Firling tindes ind 

 iinellem, Fig. 14. 



Al' de mange Tusinde Polyper, hvoraf Kolonien bestaar, 

 er der saaledes kun omkring 20, der staa i umiddelbar 

 Forbindelse med Stammens Hovedlængdekanaler; de øvrige 

 korrespondere mere eller mindre indirekte med samme, 

 idet enhver Polyp egentlig begrændses ved Grenenes ( >ver- 

 gang i Stammen og kun ved de fine Kanaler, hvori Poly- 

 pernes Mavehulhed omformer sig, kommer til at staa i 

 Rapport med Længdekanalerne. 



Polypkroppens ydre Flade er beklædt med et Epithel, 

 bestaaende at' et dobbelt Lag lignende Celler, Fig 15, a, 

 som de, der beklæde Stammen og Grenene. Indenfor 

 dette Ectodermlag er et temmelig bredt, fibrillært Bindevæv, 

 E^ig 15, b, hvori tindes en Mængde større og mindre Sn, i 

 kanaler, beklædte med Epithelceller, der ere elliptiske og 

 forsynede med en stor, lidt aflang Kjerne, omgiven af Pro- 

 toplasmakorn. 1 dette Bindevæv, nærmest Ectodermet, ere 

 Spikleme indleirede saaledes, at paa Kroppens øverste Del 

 ved Tentakelranden ligge de paatvers, forøvrigt danne de 

 to Længderækker i hvert Felt imellem Insertionslinieme for 

 Septa, Fig. 3. 



De paatversliggende Spikler danne lange, takkede 

 Spindler, der ere dels spidse i begge Ender, dels kun i 

 den ene, dels ganske lige, dels krumme, sjeldent S 

 formige, fra 0.400 — 0.536""" lange og 0.027""" brede paa 

 Midten, Fig. 16. 17. 18. 



Lidt hengere nede paa Kroppen, hvor Spikleme ligge 

 i Rækker, ere Spindlerne kortere, lidt bredere, med af- 

 stumpede Ender, Fig. 19. 20, og paa Bagkroppen tindes 

 sammensatte Stjernespikler og takkede Valser, Fig. 21. 22. 

 men hyppigere takkede Dobbeltkugler af Størrelse sein de 

 paa Stammen, — og endelig sees eiendommelige Firlinger 

 i Form af Kors, af hvilke den ene Form har en Længde- 



stok 0.1(14""" og en Tverstok 0.060 Fig. 23. medens den 



anden er fladere og bredere, Fig. 24; begge ere megel 

 takkede. 



somewhat broader, and this is, also, the case with its pro- 

 longations, (Pl. 1, rig. 13), so that the sarcosoma of the 

 branches is somewhat firmer than on the stem, especially in 

 their central portion where the ventral-cavity ot' the pol- 

 yps diminishes, considerably, and terms a minute duet filled 

 with epithelium, whieh is produced into the stem. 



In the peripherieal part of the branches, the ventral- 

 cavity of the polyps is wider, and is prolonged towards 

 the stem, and, there, is produced into one of its longitudinal 

 ducts. Similar spicules to those of the stem are observed 

 upon the branches, only, the bistellates and the more 

 complex stellates. are more frequent, whilst, also, an occasional 

 stelli-form, strongly-aculeated quadruplet is observed amongst 

 them, i Pl. I, fig. 14). 



Of the many thousands of polyps of whieh the colony 

 is composed there are, thus, only about 20 whieh are placed 

 in immediate connection with the main longitudinal ducts 

 of the stem; the others correspond, more or less indirectly, 

 because each polyp is really confined by the production of 

 the branches into the stem. and is only placed in connection 

 with the longitudinal ducts, by the minute duets into whieh 

 the ventral cavity of the polyps transforms itself 



The exterior surface oi' the body of the polyp is 

 clad with an epithelium, consisting ot a double layer of 

 similar cells to those that clothe the stem and the bran- 

 ches, (Pl. I, fig. 15, a). Inside ol' this ectoderm-layer there 

 is a. rather broad, fibrous connective-tissue, (Pl. I, fig. 15 b), 

 in whieh a multitude of, larger and smaller, nutritory ducts 

 is found, clad with epithelial cells elliptical in form, and 

 furnished with a large, slightly oblong, nucleus surrounded 

 by protoplasmic granules. In this connective-tissue, nearest 

 to the ectoderm, the spicules lic entrenched in sucb man- 

 ner, that at the tentacular margin on the uppermost portion 

 of the body they lie transversally; otherwise, they form 

 two longitudinal series in each area betweeu the lines of the 

 insertions of the septa, (Pl. 1, fig. 3). 



The transversal spicules form long spicate fusees, 

 whieh, partly, are acuminate iti both extremities, partly, only 

 in one extremity, partly, quite straight, partly, bent, but 

 seldom S-formed, and whieh measure from 0.400""" — 0.536""" 

 in length, and 0.027' " in breadth at the middle, (Pl. I, 

 figs. Kl. 17. 18). 



A little lower down on the body. at the point where 

 the spicules are situated in series, the fusees become shorter 

 and a little broader, and have blunted extremities, (Pl. I, figs. 

 19. 20), and on the posterior body, complex stellate-spicules, 

 and spicate rollers are found, (Pl. I, figs. 21. 22), but 

 more frequently, spicate double-spheres of similar size to 

 those upon the stem are found, and finally, peculiar craci- 

 form quadruplets are visible, of whieh, the one form lia- a 

 longitudinal arm. measuring 0.104""" in length and a trans- 

 versal arm, measuring 0.060""" in length, (Pl. 1. fig. 23), 

 whilst, the other form is flatter and broader, (Pl. I, fig. 24). 

 Both of them are much spicate. 



