T. C. WHITE ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF BOTRYLLOIDES. 279 



the character of the granular bodies distributed throughout the 

 sarcode of the investing tunic. In looking at them with a pocket 

 lens only, they appeared sometimes in small groups, and at other 

 times dispersed and scarcely perceptible. But under the microscope 

 I could easily distinguish a rolling movement in them ; they were 

 fusiform in shape, and granular in structure, and were placed upon 

 the exterior of the sarcode, as they could be seen projecting from the 

 surface, when the edge of the mass was in focus. What their office 

 may be, I cannot pretend to determine, as they are apparently un- 

 connected with even a fibre of the body, but they have the power, or 

 the sarcode that bears them possesses the power, of bringing them 

 together in groups, when they look like spicula with a pocket lens, 

 and again of scattering them abroad over the mass so widely that 

 two will scarcely be touching. 



While making drawings with the camera lucida of these bodies, 

 and the character of the sarcode, an interesting fact was presented 

 to my notice. Having traced round the border of the small patch 

 under observation, when I had reached my starting point, I found 

 that the border was projecting in one part, beyond my tracing, and 

 more than that, its character was altered, an oblique light revealed 

 the presence of very transparent vesiculae of an uniform size, and so 

 clear that by a full illumination they were invisible, rolling very 

 slowly and gradually from out the side of the patch, with a move- 

 ment so barely perceptible, that it was only by repeatedly drawing 

 its outline on paper that I could estimate its advance. This, then, 

 evidently was its mode of locomotion, and the sarcode mass was 

 endowed with amseboid properties. After a while the fusiform 

 granules before alluded to became rolled over this projection, and it 

 bore the same appearance as the rest of the patch, while new pro- 

 jections were forming in other directions. 



The general appearance of the patch would not lead to the infer- 

 ence of its being highly organised, but from faint areolar markings 

 visible in its internal structure, one might conclude that it was made 

 up of similar vesicular, as referred to above ; but great difficulty is 

 experienced in gaining a clear insight into its internal characters by 

 the immense number of diatoms with their brown endrochrome 

 adhering all over the surface, which effectually obscure the view. 



I feel it is not necessary before the members of tins Club to enter 

 into an anatomical description of these Tunicata, because all those 

 familiar with the admirable details embodied in Dr. Carpenter's 



