302 Z. ASCIDIOIDA. Alcyonidium. 



a slight curve outwards towards its extremity, which gives to the 

 whole a very elegant appearance. It is remarkable that in some 

 specimens the arms are much shorter on one side of the body than 

 on the other." Farre. 



" The stomach is not furnished with a gizzard in this species. The 

 intestine forms a considerable elbow at its origin, and is short and 

 wide, terminating not as in other cases near the tentacular ring, but 

 about midway up the body, at a point opposite the base of the setae. 



" A very singular organ was frequently observed, consisting of a 

 little flask-shaped body situated between the base of two of the arms, 

 and attached to the tentacular ring by a short peduncle. The cavity 

 in its interior is lined with cilia which vibrate downwards towards 

 the outer, and upwards towai'ds the inner side ; it has a narrow neck 

 and a wide mouth, around which a row of delicate cilia are constant- 

 ly playing. No flow of fluids could ever be detected through it, 

 nor did the use of carmine assist in showing with what parts the ca- 

 vity in its interior might communicate. From the circumstance that 

 it is more frequently absent than present, it cannot be an organ of 

 vital importance to the animal : and it is too intimately blended with 

 the sides of the tentacula, and too constant in its position to be re- 

 garded as a parasite. Does it indicate a diff"erence of sex ?" Farre. 



This production was first described by Johnson, the editor of Ge- 

 rarde's Herbal. His description, which is characteristic enough, is 

 as follows : " This is a very succulent and fungous plant, of the 

 thicknesse of one's thumbe ; it is of a dark yellowish colour, and 

 buncheth forth on everie side with many unequal tuberosities or 

 knots : whereupon Mr Thomas Hickes being in our companie did 

 fitly name it Sea ragged Stafi"e." — It was afterwards observed on the 

 southern coasts of England by Dale and Doody ; and Ray introduced 

 it into his synopsis of British Plants as a fucus. Ellis at first suspec- 

 ted it to be the spawn of some shell-fish, but (whether relying on the 

 authority of Pallas, who had seen the polypes, or upon subsequent 

 original observations, is uncertain,) he ultimately came to a correct 

 conclusion, for in his history of Zoophytes he says, " This is found at 

 particular seasons full of minute papillaj which send forth polypes." 

 The fact was overlooked ; and on the authority of Ray and Hudson, 

 botanists continued to rank it in the vegetable kingdom, where it re- 

 mained until very recently. Even I^amouroux considered it at first 

 as a sea-weed, but he had the fortune afterwards to detect the poly- 

 pes which he describes as having a cylindrical body and 12 tentacula ; 

 and the description which Dr Fleming has given is essentially the 

 same. If no error has crept into their calculation, the speri(>s must 



