VERMIFORM BODIES 499 



Camptoplites 2 taken in October and the unnamed ancestrula taken in July were ob- 

 tained from stations beyond the edge of the continental shelf (Sts. WS 773 and WS 237), 

 where seasonal influences must be different ; and the November ancestrulae came from 

 Tristan da Cunha at the northern limit of the sub- Antarctic area (see p. 484). The 

 tendency for the ancestrulae in typically sub-Antarctic localities to be found in February, 

 March and April may thus be more definite than appears, at first sight, from the table. 



On the other hand, the collecting chances have influenced this table even more than 

 the Antarctic one, for eighteen of the nineteen April ancestrulae were collected on a 

 single day at Marion Island and Prince Edward Island (Sts. 1562, 1563, 1564). 



An ancestrula of Beania costata in the U.S. National Museum's Falkland Collection 

 was taken on 22 April 1927, but is not included in the table. 



NOTE ON THE VERMIFORM BODIES FOUND 

 IN SOME POLYZOA 



Bodies of various types have frequently been observed in the body-cavity of the 

 Polyzoa and described as " gland-like bodies ", "vermiform bodies ", " enigmatic bodies ", 

 "sausage-like bodies", etc. They probably comprise more than one type of structure. 



There are, for instance, the paired organs, placed one on each side of the operculum, 

 usually known as opercular glands. Harmer (1926, p. 480) noted that these organs 

 appear to open into the vestibule and might possibly be testes (as suggested by various 

 authors), poison glands, slime glands or excretory organs. The median gland-like 

 structure in Cigclisula (see Lepralia occlusa Waters, 1909, p. 152, Cigclisida cautium 

 Hastings, 1932, p. 435) seems to be of the same type. 



Others do not have any apparent connexion with the vestibule and orifice. They may 

 be paired or unpaired, and, within the species, may be fairly constant in form and 

 position, or very variable. It is not certain that they are all of the same nature and some 

 may even be parasites. Their nature could probably only be determined by examination 

 of fresh and specially preserved material, which is not possible at present (March, 1941). 

 It may, however, be useful to remind workers of the existence of this problem, and to 

 set down the main facts at present known. 



Busk (1884, p. 58) described "bands" in the zooecia of specimens of Carbasea 

 pisciformis from Bass Strait. He described them as thick-walled epithelial tubes closed 

 at both ends. He could discover nothing about the contents of the tubes. He regarded 

 them as part of the Polyzoa and distinguished them from the "parasitic vermicules" 

 which he also found. They are clearly visible in a slide made from his material 

 (87. 12.9. 281) 1 and are very constant in their position, lying one on each side of the 

 zooecium, close to the lateral walls and extending the whole length of the zooecium. 

 Busk compared them to the horseshoe-shaped body which he described in Oncho- 

 poroides moseleyi. Unfortunately, no material of this species is accessible to me at 

 present, 1 and it is some years since I examined it. My recollection is, however, that these 



1 Busk's own slides of Carbasea pisciformis and Onchoporoides moseleyi have been sent out of London for 

 safety. 



