THE THREAD-CAPSULES. 427 



lips brownish orange, the tentacle bodies deep iimber- 

 brown, and the globose heads pure white. This has 

 a very fine appearance. 



The filiferous capsules of this little Corynactis (See 

 Plate XXVIII. figs. 1 to 13) are the largest that I 

 have yet seen, being as long as those of Caryophyllia 

 Smithii, (-^th inch) and twice their diameter. They 

 are ovate or elliptical, compressed in one aspect (fig. 

 13), with a little nipple at the anterior end. (Figs, 1, 

 12, 13). Within the cavity and almost filling it, the 

 thread is distinctly seen, coiled round and round in a 

 spiral more or less regular in different individuals. 

 There is no lozenge-shaped body at the anterior end, 

 and in correspondence with this lack, we find the 

 thread when projected to be destitute of a brush of 

 hairs, and to be of uniform structure throughout its 

 length. The length of the thread is very great ; one 

 that I measured reached to about |-th inch, or about 

 thirty-seven times that of the capsule. Its thickness 

 also is distinctly measurable, and I found it ^^^ th of 

 an inch, equal throughout. It is marked for its entire 

 length with diagonal lines, alternating at right angles 

 to each other, which I presume to indicate a similar 

 structure of imbricate plates to that observed in Cary- 

 ojjhyllia, but set more Avidely apart. (See fig. 2). By 

 delicate manipulation a series of transverse or angular 

 striae were visible throughout the thread, rather close 

 together, about four or five to each alternation of the 

 diagonal imbrications. 



Such then is the structure of the larger capsules 

 and their filaments. These are very numerous, both 

 in the ovarian bands and in the tentacles. There was 



