52 ZOOPHYTES. 



in diameter near the root, then subdividing into several massy boughs, 

 besides many lesser branches. 



Numberless twigs, terminated by thousands of minute hydrae of the 

 palest carnation, clothed the extremities which were ten inches apart. 



The root itself diffused irregularly by a multitude of mossy-like fibres, 

 which might be circumscribed by a circle of two inches diameter. It is to be 

 observed that the stem and the higher rigid portions consisted of irregular 

 bundles of tubes ; but about two inches of the highest were in verticillate 

 arrangement, that is, composed of twigs, set around the leading part, and 

 not in simple divergence to right and left from it.* Though composed of 

 bundles of tubes below, the absolute extremities bearing the hydrae resolve 

 into single tubes, each with its animal. 



Many parasites invested this splendid specimen. Masses of the pure 

 white and deep orange Alcyonium digitatum or Lobularia hung from the 

 boughs ; Sertulurice, sponges, and Algce, were profusely interspersed, all 

 proving, by their obvious successive generations, the great antiquity of the 

 Tubularia. 



A fine and accurate representation of the specimen was speedily 

 executed by a masterly artist, Mr John Welch, miniature-painter. Yet, 

 such was the extraordinary luxuriance of this product, that an infinity of 

 subordinate parts were delightful to the eye in nature, which, intercepted 

 by others, could not be shown on a mere surface. — Plate VI. 



So great an accumulation of parasite matter, however, combined with 

 animal life, hastened the decay of this splendid subject, by tainting the 

 purity of the surrounding fluid. 



Other specimens have occurred of similar aspect and conformation, 

 chiefly from four to six inches high, but none above nine. From these 

 and the former it appears that the higher portion surmounting the main 

 stem may be confined by an elliptical outline. That is the fashion of its 

 growth. Thus, one most beautiful and luxuriant, four inches high and 

 diverging four inches, might have been circumscribed by an ellipse two 

 inches and a quarter across. By gross computation, 1200 hydrae, deeper 



* The proper definition of verticillate might be, a regular form, like the spokes issuing 

 from the nave of a wheel at first horizontally, and then turning upwards. 



