126 F. A. PARSONS ON A NEW HYDROID POLYF. 



tunity of making a microscopical examination, but was unable to 

 get beyond the fact that it was a hydroid polyp which I had never 

 before seen. I described it to several persons whom I thought 

 might be able to give me some clue to its identification, but I was 

 unable to obtain any information about it. 



Owing to the flimsy structure of the sponge skeleton, which 

 had began to disintegrate, I hesitated about bringing it here, but 

 finally determined to make an attempt to exhibit it in this room, 

 and I brought it down to the meeting in July last. Being anxious 

 to show it under a quarter-inch objective I endeavoured to 

 transfer it to a very shallow trough, but the sponge skeleton had 

 become so fragile that the whole thing collapsed in the attempt, 

 completely obscuring all the specimens, which I thought were 

 annihilated, but, however, they subsequently reappeared stronger 

 than ever. It was my intention to exhibit a rather fine specimen, 

 at the November meeting, in the hope that our President might 

 be able to throw some light upon the matter, but, when I looked 

 for this particular specimen, which I had carefully isolated in a 

 small tube, I was unable to find it ; neither could I find any of the 

 others. They had all, I suppose, died from want of food. 



I paid another visit to the tank at the end of November, and 

 was much gratified on reaching home to find that I had obtained 

 a fresh supply of these singular little creatures. 



In the following week a letter from Professor E. Ray Lankester 

 appeared in the Times stating that Mr. Bourne had discovered, 

 in the Victoria regia tank, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a 

 hydroid polyp, which was supposed to be the polyp stage of the 

 Medusa Limnocodium Soiverbii. 



Without having the slightest idea that this polyp was the same 

 that I had found in the Economic house, I determined to make 

 another pilgrimage to the Gardens and endeavour to find 

 the polyp referred to by Professor Lankester. I went to the 

 Victoria regia house, and searched there in vain for anything like 

 a polyp, but took away with me some rootlets of the Pontederia. 

 The first piece I examined of this under the microscope revealed 

 my old acquaintance of the Economic house, and it immediately 

 flashed across my mind that this was probably the same polyp 

 which had rewarded the search of Mr. Bourne. 



It was suggested to me by a friend, that I should exhibit it at 

 the December meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society, and 



