100 Mr. Patterson on the Cydippe Pomiformh. 



ing, both in the extent to which they are protruded and that to which tliey are 

 distended. It is seldom they are porrected to their full extent, but, when so, 

 they produce so great a change in the oval form which the animal generally pre- 

 sents, that they make its outline appear like a miniature representation of one of 

 those old fashioned bottles which we see in the pictures of the Flemish school. 



The only food I have ever been able to detect in the stomach has been small 

 Crustacea of different kinds. The first of these was an undescribed species, since 

 named by my friend Robert Templeton, Esq. R. A., Anomalocera Pattersonii.* 

 It was one line in length, and its bright green colour, contrasted beautifully, 

 when in the stomach of the Beroe, with the crystalline transparency of the body, 

 in which it was enclosed. In some instances two of these Crustacea were visible 

 in the stomach of one Beroe. The second I observed was a species of Zoea, on 

 which Mr. Templeton also bestowed the specific appellation above mentioned.f 

 Besides some other Zoea, I have distinguished some of the Gammaridas. One 

 of this family appeared to be half the length of the Beroe, and lay across the 

 interior of the stomach, slightly bent, and when first observed was still living, 

 and occasionally shifting its position. By a note in Trans. Ent. Society, vol. ii. 

 p. 40, I learn that " M. Risso mentions his finding phronima sedentaria in the 

 interior of a Beroe." 



If, however, the Beroes feed upon small Crustacea, they in turn furnish a sup- 

 ply of food to creatures more powerful than themselves. I have seen two of 

 them swallowed by the Actinia Gemmacea,J in the course of twenty minutes. 

 Next morning portions of the bands of cilia and more solid parts of the Beroes 

 were observed rolled together, and adhering, with some darkish coloured pellets, 

 to the filaments of the Actinia, whence after some time they were thrown off". 

 On another occasion I took a small Medusa of the genus Callirhoe, (of a species 

 undescribed by Lamarck, ) and placed in the glass vessel with it a Beroe, which 

 had been taken at the same time. While the latter was swimming round the 

 glass, with that lively and graceful movement for which it is so remarkable, it 

 came in contact with the filiform tentacula attached to the arms of its companion. 

 The arms instantly closed, and the Beroe was a prisoner. I endeavoured to 

 separate them, and for this purpose moved them about, by pushing them with a 



* Trans. Ent. Society, vol. ii. part 1, p. 34. -f- Vol. ii. part 2, p. 114. 



X Johnston's Hist. Brit. Zoophytes, p. 214. 



