REPORT ON THE ANTIPATHARIA. 213 



middle of the layer. The stornodaeal gland cells are seldom found near the surface of 

 the layer, and do not appear to be so numerous as in many other species. A number 

 of large subcylindrical gland cells occur near the middle of the layer, which take a deep 

 homogeneous stain in haeniatoxylin. Others, which are small and oval, are more distinctly 

 granular. A well-marked and relatively thick nervous layer is found beneath the epithelial 

 layer, aud a number of ganglion cells may frequently be distinguished at its base. 

 Finally, a row of ectodermal muscular fibres is applied to the surface of the mesoglcea. 



Entoderm. — In transverse sections of a tentacle the entoderm consists of a confused 

 mass of cells, two or three rows deep, the outlines of which are not well defined. Each 

 cell apparently contains a round or oval body with deeply-stained granules around its 

 periphery. The zooids examined are not sufficiently well preserved to allow one to decide 

 whether these are simply nuclei or a small type of granular gland cell interposed between 

 more homogeneous epithelial cells. The entoderm of the body-wall contains a number 

 of ribbon-shaped epithelial cells, each bearing a nucleus at the base of the protoplasmic 

 dilation which reaches the surface of the layer. A number of hyaline gland cells 

 occupy the lower portion of the layer and are interposed between the slender proximal 

 ends of the epithelial cells. No entodermal muscular layer has been observed in this 

 species. 



Testis. — The whole of the zooids examined contain a large number of spermatic 

 capsules in various stages of development. These are present in such quantity as to 

 entirely obliterate the lumen of the ccelenteron. They appear to be developed in con- 

 nection with the transverse mesenteries, but are pressed close against the entoderm of the 

 body-wall, and also between the folds of the stornodseuru. In most specimens they 

 occupy a considerable portion of the lumen of the tentacles and are pressed into every 

 available space. The spermatic capsules themselves are well preserved, but the tissue 

 in which they are imbedded is more or less granular in the sections examined, so that 

 I have been unable to make out their relations to the mesoglcea of the transverse 

 mesenteries. 



Tylopathes crispa. 



The general structure of this species is similar to that of Antipathella subpinnata. 

 The surface of the tentacles is raised into oval transverse papillae, the centre of which, as 

 usual, is occupied by a battery of nematocysts, with elongated nucleated fibres beneath. 

 The bundles of nematocysts are sometimes subcylindrical, but at others they are fan-shaped 

 and each bundle of nematocysts and fibres is contracted towards the middle, as in 

 Leiopathes glaberrima. A number of hyaline gland cells are interposed between adjoin- 

 ing batteries of nematocysts and pass from the surface to the base of the layer. These 

 hyaline cells contain a large number of yellowish green bodies of irregular outline ; these 



