TUBULARIAD.E I CORYMORPHA. 55 



brane contracts so as to diminish the dimensions of the amputated 

 portion. No vascular structure could be detected, on the most 

 minute examination of transverse and longitudinal sections of the 

 stem ; nor could any current be observed, either with the naked 

 eye or the microscope, in this part of the living animal. The ten- 

 tacula are all solid, and composed of the same substance as the 

 stem and head. Within the head is the stomach, opening exter- 

 nally by a small circular mouth without any fringe or oral appa- 

 ratus. This stomach is flask-shaped, having an elevated floor like 

 the bottom of a bottle. It does not descend below the level of the 

 lowermost range of tentacula. Its internal surface is villous, but 

 not ciliated ; neither are there any cilia on any part of the body. 



" This description of the internal structure differs from that of 

 M. Sars, who says, ' If the skin of the polype, which is pretty 

 strong, be cut up, the interior is found quite empty, without any 

 intestines, except a small cylindrical gut or stomach, which at the 

 upper end is a little wider than at the lower, and runs straight 

 from the mouth downwards without bending to the lower half of 

 the body, or a little lower, where it terminates abruptly; a large 

 number of threads joined by net-work diverging like rays from its 

 end towards the skin, where they fasten themselves. On this sto- 

 mach are also to be seen strong longitudinal stripes.' This appear- 

 ance is presented only by the animal after having been kept for 

 some time in alcohol ; but we can assert positively that no such 

 structure exists in the living animal. Misled by the above falla- 

 cious appearance, M. Sars has drawn a false analogy between it and 

 the AdinecB. 



" To what we have said of the deciduous tube, one of the most 

 extraordinary points in the oeconomy of this zoophyte, we must add 

 that the filaments branching from the roots are, properly speaking, 

 processes of its tube ; for the young animal may be drawn out of its 

 tube uninjured, and then the tube and the roots will be seen entire. 

 In the adult animal the filaments and that part of its tube which 

 envelopes the root still remain, while the upper part disappears. 

 As ovaries of the specimen described by M. Sars were much further 

 advanced than those in our examples, we quote the following ob- 

 servations from his account of them : ' They are for the most part 

 two-branched ; at the end of the branches, the eggs, improperly so 

 called, were seen resting, heaped together in large quantities. These 

 eggs or buds have an exceedingly remarkable form and internal 

 construction. For if they are examined with the microscope, it 



