312 Mr. Forbes and Mr. Goodsir on Corymorpha nutans^ 



this part of the living animal. The tentacula are all solid^ 

 and composed of the same substance as the stem and head. 

 Within the head is the stomach, opening externally by a 

 small circular mouth without any fringe or oral apparatus. 

 This stomach is flask-shaped, having an elevated floor like 

 the bottom of a bottle. It does not descend below the level 

 of the lowermost range of tentacula. Its internal surface is 

 villous, but not ciliated, neither are there any cilia on any 

 part of the body. 



This description of the internal structure differs from that of 

 M. Sars, who says, " If the skin of the Polype, which is pretty 

 strong, be cut up, the interior is found quite empty, without 

 any intestines, except a small cylindrical gut or stomach, 

 which at the upper end is a little wider than at the lower, 

 and runs straight from the mouth downwards without bending 

 to the lower half of the body, or a little lower, where it ter- 

 minates abruptly, a large number of threads joined by net- 

 work diverging like rays from its end towards the skin, where 

 they fasten themselves. On this stomach are also to be seen 

 strong longitudinal stripes.^^ This appearance is presented 

 only by the animal after having been kept for some time in 

 alcohol ; but we can assert positively that no such structure 

 exists in the living animal. Misled by the above fallacious 

 appearance, M. Sars has drawn a false analogy between it 

 and the Actinece. 



To what we have said of the deciduous tube, one of the 

 most extraordinary points in the oeconomy of this zoophyte, 

 we must add that the filaments branching from the roots are, 

 properly speaking, processes of its tube ; for the young 

 animal may be drawn out of its tube uninjured, and then 

 the tube and the roots will be seen entire. In the adult 

 animal the filaments and that part of its tube which enve- 

 lopes the root still remain, while the upper part disappears. 

 As ovaries of the specimen described by M. Sars were much 

 further advanced than those in our examples, we quote the 

 following observations from his account of them : — 



^^ They are for the most part two-branched ; at the end of 

 the branches, the eggs, improperly so called, were seen rest- 

 ing, heaped together in large quantities. These eggs or buds 



