ZOOPHYTES. 



345 



As soon as you have recovered a little from your sur- 

 prise at this strange display, we will begin to examine the 

 performers more in detail. A slender creeping thread, 

 irregularly crossing and anastomosing, so as to form a 

 loose network of about three meshes in width, surrounds 

 the margin of the Sabella's tube, adhering firmly to its 

 exterior surface, in the chitinous substance of which it 

 seems imbedded. Here and there free buds are given 

 off, especially from the lower edge; while from the upper 

 threads spring the strange forms that have attracted our 

 notice. These are spindle-shaped bodies, about -^th of 



LARES. 



an inch in height, whose lower extremities are of no 

 greater thickness than the thread from which they spring ; 

 with a head-like lobe at the summit, separated from the 

 body by a constriction, immediately below which two 

 lengthened arms project in a direction towards the axis 

 of the tube. 



Such is the external form of these animals, and their 

 movements are still more extraordinary. The head-lobe 

 of each one moves to and fro freely on the neck, the body 

 sways from side to side, but still more vigorously back- 

 ward and forward, frequently bending into an arch in 

 either direction; while the long arms are widely expanded, 



