124 THE MADREPORE. 



which I at first thought indicated a delicate memhrane 

 pushed out from the orifice of the capsule hy the 

 projected thread, until it at length burst, and shrank 

 back in folds around the base. The form of the 

 capsules differed from that of those described above, 

 in that they were proportionally longer and more 

 slender, being in fact almost linear. I could not 

 discover any capsules ifi the body of the tentacle ; but 

 only in the head. 



If, indeed, these projected bristles are so many darts 

 injected into the bodies of those minute animals which 

 are the prey of the Madrepore, accompanied, as we 

 must suppose each puncture to be, to insure its effect? 

 with a fatal poison, — does not their presence in the 

 convoluted bands of the interior militate against the 

 supposition that these bands are ovaries, especially as 

 I have seen the curious manner in which these are 

 appressed to the swallowed morsel ? Is it unreason- 

 able to conjecture that their office may be accessory 

 to that of the tentacles, destroying what may remain 

 of life in the victim, after it has been inclosed by the 

 lips, and is consequently out of the reach of the 

 tentacles ? 



This inference was confirmed by the results of fur- 

 ther investigation ; for, examining in the same man- 

 ner other minute portions of the frilled bands, as I 

 could detach them with the point of a pin, I at 

 length found a piece in which the capsules were much 

 more numerous, and vastly larger than any that I had 

 yet seen, whether in the bands or the tentacle-heads. 

 They were fully ^th inch in length, long-oval, but 

 somewhat curved. Their size enabled me with a 



