299, OX HETEROPSAMMIA MICIIELIXII, 



one to believe that if derived from an enclosed shell it must have 

 been of many different species. The shape and size of the 

 corallum varies in a very extraordinary degree. But sinistral 

 shells are rare. 



Again it has not been remarked though I have seen it indicated 

 in drawings, that the side of the corallum was perforated with a 

 line of somewhat irregular minute pores, and there are a number 

 of them scattered all over the surface. On making sections of 

 these corals I have found that the burrows are cylinders of only 

 about a turn and a half, nearly on the same plane. There is no 

 trace of shelly matter, but the perforation is direct into the 

 substance of the corallum. On passing a fine bristle into any 

 of the pores they are found to communicate with the main 

 burrow, no matter how far they may be from it. These would 

 appear to be perforated by the animal by the minute asperities 

 which beset the proboscis, and are disposed serially or irregularly 

 scattered. 



I give the notes of Dr. Macdonald on the animal. " The 

 crested proboscis is about three times the length of the body and 

 crowned with simple ciliated tentacula. On the dorsal surface, 

 immediately behind the base of the proboscis is a little oval and 

 brownish callosity answering the purpose of an operculum when 

 the animal is retracted within its cell, and close behind this is the 

 anal aperture. The posterior extremity of the body is furnished 

 with a similarly constituted but slightly conical shield as the 

 opercular disk meets the rest of the dorsal surface at an angle 

 more or less obtuse, the proboscis appears to hold a subterminal 

 ventral position and protrudes itself somewhat perpendicularly to 

 the axis of the body. The surface of the latter is beset with 

 minute asperities disposed serially or irregularly scattered. These 

 become larger and more numerous towards the dorsal region, and 

 more definitely aggregated towards the extremities. They 

 constitute the before mentioned opercular and conical disks. As 

 they extend themselves on the proboscis they grow smaller and 



