524 VESICULAllIID^. 



BoWERBANKIA CITRINA, Hincks. 

 Plate LXXVI. fig8. 6-8. 



Valkeria ciTiiiNA, Hincks, Ann. N. H. ser. 4, xx. 215 (1877). 

 ? Valkeria imbrk'Ata, Balycll, Eem. An. i. 246, pi. 1. 



Stem erect, slender, dicliotomously branched. Zooecia 

 clustered, somewhat spirally disposed, oval, small and 

 delicate, not densely crowded; the clusters short, placed 

 immediately below each bifurcation, and occupying 

 about the upper half of the internode or less. 



Polypide of a citron colour, with 8 tentacles : very tall 

 when expanded. 



Shoots clustered, of slender habit, forming bushy tufts. 



From the preceding species B. citrina is distinguished by 

 its smaller size and more delicate habit, by its short and 

 not very dense companies of cells, which do not extend 

 far below the joint, whilst those of the kindred species are 

 elongated and compact and occupy a large proportion of 

 the internode, and by the exquisite colour of the tentacles 

 and other portions of the polypide. 



This might perhaps be regarded as a variety of B. pustu- 

 losa, were it not that the differences in habit (which are so 

 striking that the two forms are distinguished at a glance) 

 are always associated with the remarkable peculiarity in 

 the colour of the polypides. The coloured portions are 

 the tentacles and a line running down the body and pro- 

 bably marking the course of the oesophagus. Each of 

 the arms is traversed by a central line of bright citron- 

 coloured granules. 



The polypides of this species are most beautiful objects, 

 both when stowed away in their transparent cells and 

 when expanding their tinted wreaths of tentacles. 



