870 POLYZOA INFUNDIBULATA. 



yet expressive. The filaments are capillary, smooth, pellucid, kneed 

 and jointed at their dichotomies, immediately under which the cells 

 are usually placed in a short row containing from four to eight or 

 nine cells, growing gradually shorter outwards, and so arranged as to 

 resemble a Pan's-pipe in miniature, " with cylindrical reeds varying 

 in their length." — That the polypes are ascidian is satisfactorily 

 proved by Cavolinij and Lister informs us that they have eight 

 ciliated arms. 



24. Vesicularia,* J. V. Thompson. 



Chabacter. — Polypkhm rooted^ confervoid, fistular^ liorny^ 

 dicliotomoudy hranched^ jointed at the divisions ; cells ovate, 

 disjunct^ uniserial and unilateral. Polypes ascidian with eight 

 tentacida, and a gizzard. 



1. V. spiNosA. DillenJus. 



Plate LXXII. Fig. 1—4. 



Conferva marina cancellata, Ravi Syn. i. 59, no. 11. Dill. Hist. Muse. 24, no. 22, pi. 

 4, fig. 22, — fide />. Turner in Lin. Trans, vii. 106. — Conferva cancellata, Lin. 

 Syst. ii. 720. With. Bot. Arrang. iv. 131.— Silk Coralline, Ellis Corall. 20, no. 17, 

 pi. 11, fig. b, B, c. D. — Sertularia spinosa, Lin. Sj'st. 1312. Ellis and Sulatul. 

 Zooph. 48. Turt. Gmel. iv. 682. Esper Pflanz. Sert. tab. 28, fig. 1, 2, 3. Jameson 

 in Wern. Mem. i. 564. Bosc Vers. iii. 118. Berk. Syn. i. 219. Stew. Elem. ii. 

 446. Turt. Brit. Faun. 215. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ii. 120: 2de 6dit. ii. 148. 

 Hogg^s Stock. 33. — Sertularia sericea, Pall. Elench. 114. — LaomedeaS spinosa, 

 Lamour. Corall. 91. Blainv. Actinolog. 474. Templeton in Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. 

 466. — Valkeria spinosa, Flem. Brit. Anim. 551. Couch Zooph. Comw. 38.— Vesi- 

 cularia spinosa, Thomp. Zool. Illust. 98, pi. 3, fig. 1-8. Farre in Phil. Trans, an. 

 1837, 401 , pi. 22. Johns. Brit. Zooph. 250, pi. 29, fig. 1-4. Hassall in Ann. and 

 Mag. N. Hist. vi. 170. Van Beneden les Bryozaires, 30, pi. 4, fig. c. Couch 

 Corn. Faun. iii. 94, pi. 17, fig. 1. 



Hah. " On oyster beds," Fleming. Generally distributed along 

 the shores of Great Britain, but most abundant on the south and 

 west coasts. Frequent on the shores of Ireland, and like all our 

 zoophytes, attains a much greater than ordinary size on the Dublin 

 coast, W. Thompson. 



Polypidoms affixed by a fibrous base, very slender, confervoid, of 

 a thin membranous pellucid texture, much branched, erect, some- 

 times as much as a foot in height, usually about four inches : main 

 branches composed of intertwined capillary tubes, tapered, zigzag; 

 branchlets arising from the bends, either solitary or in pairs, short, 



* From vcsiculu, the diminutive of vesica, a bladder. 



