138 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



" I cannot perceive any permanent cliaracter by which 

 S. cupresshia can at all times be distinguished from S. ar- 

 getitea, although typical specimens of each form bearing these 

 names appear considerably different from each other. Both 

 are found around the Irish coast, and together with many 

 other zoophytes constituted the most beautiful collection of 

 these objects I ever beheld, when gracefully depending from, 

 and interlacing, the spacious trawl-nets of the Ilowth fisher- 

 men, as they were hung up to dry on the decks of the fish- 

 ing-smacks. Of the numerous species then obtained, S. ar- 

 gentea and S. cupressina were the most attractive, from their 

 graceful form and magnitude, some examples attaining to 

 nearly two feet in height.''' [W. Thompson,) 



When Sir J. G. Daly ell mentions one which was twenty- 

 seven inches in height, he speaks of it as the largest of our 

 Scottish zooplMes. This held true at the time lie wrote, 

 but since that time a specimen of Favonia quadrangulata 

 has been dredged near Oban no less than four feet in length. 



Genus YII. THUIARIA, Fleming. 



Gen. Char. Polypidora plant-like, rooted by a tubular fibre, 

 erect, dichotomously branched or pinnated : the cells sessile, 



