115 



and from the top of many of them, a figure seems to issue out like a 

 short tobacco-pipe ; the small end of which seems to be inserted in the 

 tube that passes through the middle of the whole. The cells in pairs 

 are thought by some to have the appearance of the small pods of the 

 Shepherd's Purse, by others, the shape of the seed-vessel of the herb 

 Veronica or Speedwell." 



The species, after several changes of appellation, received its pre- 

 sent systematic name from Dr. Fleming. Whether this name should 

 be retained or not, need not here be discussed, but it may be observed 

 that as far as its derivation is concerned, we shall find that it 

 is inapplicable, and that the appellation of Epistomia suggested by 

 the same learned naturalist is equally inappropriate. 



The polypidom of this Bryozoon, like those of most of its conge- 

 ners, may be said to consist of a radical portion by which it is affixed 

 to the objects upon which it grows, and of a celliferous portion, 

 or branches upon which the polypes themselves are lodged. The 

 radical portion in the present species consists of a central discoid 

 body of a nearly circular form, and of branches radiating from the pe- 

 riphery of the disk, which thence exhibits something of the aspect of 

 the body of an Ophiura. The radical tubes or branches, springing 

 from the margin of the disk, are usually five or six in number, 

 and they are given off at pretty regular distances apart ; but besides 

 these radical tubes, one or more celliferous branches are not un- 

 frequently seen to arise immediately from the upper surface of the 

 discoid portion. 



The central disk, and the radical tubes arising from it, exhibit 

 a similar structure, and are formed of a thick, firm, apparently horny 

 envelope, containing a coarse granular matter of a yellowish white 

 colour, and which in some portions of the tubes assumes the form of 

 distinct irregularly globular masses of nearly uniform size. The 

 central disk is subdivided into distinct compartments by septa of 

 considerable thickness, and each radiating branch arises from one of 

 these distinct compartments, so that there appears to be no communi- 

 cation between one radical branch and another. The radical branches 

 give off, at irregular distances, secondary branches, which ultimately 

 become celliferous. Each of these secondary branches, however, 

 arises from a distinct compartment, as it were, of the tube from which 

 it springs. This compartment is formed, like those of the central 

 disk, by a thick septum, which shuts off the origin of the secondary 

 branch from the main cavity of the primary one. The secondary 



