152 Sir John Graham Daly ell on a Singular Mode of 



this name alone, much confusion would be prevented, and the 

 relative composition of rocks kept in view. — I remain, dear Sir, 

 your's, &c. 



Chas. Le Hunt. 



To Professor Jameson, Edinburgh. 

 November 1838. 



J Singular Mode of Propagation among the Lower Animals il- 

 lustrated. By Sir John Graham Dalyell. Communi- 

 cated by the Author. 



In preceding memoirs I have endeavoured to explain the pe- 

 culiarities observed in the propagation of several zoophytes, 

 Avhether by means of ova giving birth to the young, whether 

 through the medium of an animal discharged from an external 

 cyst, or pod, or vesicle of the parent, which, at first enjoying 

 active motion, becomes stationary, undergoes a metamorpho- 

 sis, and then appears in the perfect state. Likewise it has 

 been shewn that prominences bud externally from the hydra 

 tuba, which is a hydra proper, shapeless at first, and as they 

 detach, becoming perfect animals ; and that an animated mov- 

 ing corpusculum, which may be artificially liberated as such 

 from the actinia, will become a perfect foetus if retained, and 

 will be produced by the parent from the mouth in its own si- 

 militude. 



I. Actinia. — All the species of actinia are not viviparous by 

 the mouth. There is one inhabiting our seas which I cannot 

 identify with any described in the systema of any author, and 

 which may be provisionally named Actinia flava. This is a 

 beautiful animal, always of a yellowish or orange hue, begirt 

 with a row of longitudinal white lines down the whole body. 

 The disc is encircled by a triple row of rather slender long ten- 

 tacula ; and the basis spreads in a very thin margin around 

 the body affixing it below. The whole animal might be cir- 

 cumscribed by three-fourths of a hollow sphere, an inch or 

 somewhat more in diameter. 



Preparatory to propagation considerable irregularities appear 

 in the margin of the base ; it is penetrated by deep indenta- 

 tions, or enlarges by wider diffusion of some of the edges. 

 Jn a short time, crude and irregular portions of indefinite 



