232 Z. HELIANTHOIDA. Lucernaria. 



ginous lamina which rises up the short peduncle, and forms a minute 

 hollow firm centre. The margin of the oval expansion is somewhat 

 thickened, and divided into eight equal arms, each furnished with a 

 tuft of numerous short tentacula tipped with a gland, and brighter 

 coloured than the body. The interior is hollowed like the blossom 

 of a flower, the square extensible mouth projecting in the centre ; 

 and in the space between the arms there is a complicated structure 

 composed apparently of two series of foliaceous processes arranged on 

 each side of a white line that seems to spring from the sides of the 

 mouth. These processes are formed by the complicated foldings of 

 a thin membrane attached by one side in the manner of a mesentery ; 

 there are no vessels in the membrane, but some portions of it exhi- 

 bit, when magnified, a kind of net-work of irregular cells, and the 

 outer and free edge is bounded by a thread-like line. The white cen- 

 tral line which divides them is formed of small roundish bodies ar- 

 ranged in two or three close series ; and some of these ova can at 

 times be traced along the margin of the circumference to the tenta- 

 cula. The latter are cylindrical and terminated with a globular head, 

 which is seemingly imperforate. The stomach is a loose thin plait- 

 ed extensible bag, having attached to its inner surface numeroiis fili - 

 form CBRca, (Fig. c) that, after their removal from the body, retain 

 their irritability for a long time, and writhe themselves like a knot of 

 worms. — Dr Coldstream has favoured me with the following obser- 

 vations on the habits of this Lucernaria. — " I find the animal very 

 hardy. It is constantly in a state of expansion, and does not contract 

 excepting when very rudely handled. One specimen has lived with 

 me for three weeks although the water has not been very often 

 changed. When 1 first procured it, the two rows of spots running 

 from the mouth along each arm were prominent, and of a dark red- 

 dish-brown colour. Since that time they have increased in size, and 

 have become studded with numerous white oval bodies which I sup- 

 pose to be ova. I see some of these have made their way into the 

 web connecting the arms, but I have not observed any expelled from 

 the body."— 5th April 1833. 



Observations. 

 The Lucernarise are of a gelatinous consistence. The skin or co- 

 rium is smooth and thickish. After covering and giving form to the 

 body it is reflected over the oral disk, and encloses, within the du])li- 

 cature formed by this reflection, the internal viscera. The body is 

 more or less distinctly campanulate, and is prolonged inferiorly into 

 a pedicle, very variable in length, which has its bottom conformed 

 into a small sucker. From this point four ligaments, probably of a 



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