250 ZOOPHYTES. 



fig. 3, — extended, Plate LIII. fig. 2. The proboscis shows much ac- 

 tion ; lengthening, shortening, and curving. In some specimens, this 

 organ seems full at first and afterwards empty. I call it a proboscis, 

 from not observing any other organ corresponding to a mouth. I have 

 seen it extend three inches, even from a smaller specimen, and the ten- 

 tacula five. Under the microscope, the latter prove to be of beautiful 

 structure. In itself each of them seems tubular. It is visibly traversed 

 by a fluid, but, whether from absorption only, I cannot affirm. This tube 

 is externally loaded with numerous organic parts, which resemble beads 

 when it is extended. — Plate LIII. fig. 3. These beads, if considerably 

 magnified, seem rough, and totally covered with short spines. 



Once I procured between forty and fifty specimens, the last surviving 

 a fortnight. 



Plate LII. Fig. 3. Medusa proboscidea, — tentacula contracted. 

 4. Young 1 



Plate LIII. Fig. 2. Medusa proboscidea, — tentacula extended. 

 3. Portion of a tentaculum, enlarged. 



§ 5. Medusa (tima, Eschscholtz). — Plate LII. Fig. 5. — A modern 

 author, Eschscholtz, has established a genus of the Medusa under the name 

 of Tima, of which a rude representation of one species, named Tima fiavi- 

 labris, is given in his work. — Plate vm. fig. 3, a. Eschscholtz says it in- 

 habits the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Azores. 



I received a fine specimen of one of the same genus, on December 12, 

 from an intelligent fisherman, Alexander Wood, at Cellardyke, on the 

 coast of Fife, about forty miles distant. It had no yellow mouth, as I 

 conclude the name given by the preceding author imports. 



The body of this specimen was an inch and a half in diameter, the 

 umbrella forming a hollow segment of about the third of a sphere. Twelve 

 tentacula descended three inches from their origin on the margin ; and 

 from the cavity, an appendage consisting of three organs resembling chains, 

 which terminated in three leaves, extending half an inch. These leaves 

 are an inch and a half distant from the summit of the umbrella, and they 

 are connected by short small cylinders to the chains. Many knobs on the 



