Plumatei.la. Z. ASCIDIOIDA. 323 



Hab. " On the under side of stones. Lochmill-loch, Fife," Flem- 

 ing. " Not unfrequent in a rivulet of beautifully clear water, at Nor- 

 ton, in the county of Durham," John Hogg, Esq. 



" Stem extending; several inches, irregularly branched, slightly en- 

 larging towards the aperture, dilatalde ; tentacular margin divided 

 into two lobes, tentacula ciliated in opposite directions. Besides a 

 gullet, stomach, and gut, there is a distinct rectum, terminating in a 

 tubular orifice seated externally to the tentacular margin, out of which 

 I have witnessed the remains of the food swallowed but a short time 

 before forcibly ejected." Fleming. 



*2. V. g'E.IjKTI'hos A, ^'^ free, branched ; tentacula circularly dis- 

 posed." — Rev. Dr Fleming. 



Tubiilaria gelatinosa, Pall. Elencli. 8.3 Plumatella gelatiiiosa, Flem. 



Br. Anim. 553. 



Hab. "■ Found along with the preceding," Fleming. 



" Height about two inches, tufted, shrubby ; stem dichotomously 

 branched, scarcely enlarging at the extremity ; polypi with a bell- 

 shaped disk, the tentacula regularly disposed, and appearing as if 

 webbed at the base ; mouth with a valve." Fleming. 



3. P. SULTANA, irregularly branched ; tentacula campanulate. 

 J. G. Dalyell. 



Tubularia sultana, Blumenh. Man. 272. pi. 1. fig. 9. Bosc, Vers, ill. 93. 



Hab. Fresh water. Near Foulden, Berwickshire, Dalyell. 



Polypidom irregularly branched, about an inch in height, earthy 

 brown, roughish and opaque, the tubes short, cylindrical and unjoint- 

 ed ; polypes entirely retractile, with about 20 slender white tentacu- 

 la, assuming when expanded a regular campanulate figure. Blumen- 

 bach says they are ciliated at the base. 



As I have already stated, Raspail considers the Plumatellae (with 

 the exception of P. sultana, which he does not mention,) to be mere- 

 ly states of the Alcyonella,* — an opinion which future inquiries may 

 shew to be true, but at present there are some difficulties in the way 

 of its adoption. Pallas had examined both the Polypes-a-panache of 



(not Bull. des. Sciences Nat.) p. 157, no. 81, an 12 (de la Republique)=1804, 

 belonging to an extract from a memoir by Vaucher on the fresh-water Tubulariae : 

 there fig. 1. much resembles the polypary in its natural state, but the animal mag- 

 nified is not near so like as that figured in the former work : however neither 

 plates do justice to the polj-pes." 



" Mr J. E. Gray, in 1832, says, " It is probable that the Plumatellae may be 

 only the young of the Alcyonellae." Syn. of Brit. Mus. p. 75. 



