18 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIONS. 



These animals are usually delicate plant-like forms, composed of colonics of 

 social zoophytes attached to fixed objects, and theii' develojimeiit is bj- ' buds' -vvliicli 

 on maturity are detached and float away, and arc in their free stage of existence 

 known as Medusa. "The Medusoid ' t/onop/iore ' is composed of a swimminfj-bell 

 (ncctocalyx) with its inner margin produced into a delicate membrane called the 

 ' velum,' its outer margin bearing the tentacles. From the centn^ hangs a tubular 

 bodj-, the manubrium, containing the body-ca\'ity and acting as a polypito. The 

 body-cavity is connected with fuur or more canals radiating to the circumference, 

 and giving rise with their branches to a circular canal." (Pascoe.) 



I quote so much of the life history of these animals as is probably not generally 

 known, showing that many of the elegant free-swimming Medusce arc merely the 

 early stage of a tixed hydi'oid zoophyte. 



Order HArLOMORPHA. 



These are the true Medusa: or Aenlej)/ice of Cuvior, the embryos being developed 

 from the parent, similia similibus, witlunit passing tkrough an intermediate stage of 

 iledusoid ' ffoiioj)hore,' as in the last order. 



Class ACTINOZOA. 



The stomach is separated from the exterior wall by an intervening space, 

 radiately divided into compartments by membranous partitions, \^herein the repro- 

 ductive organs are lodged. The ova devclope into free gcnns with vibratile cilia 

 {I'lunula). Reproduction is also effected by ' budding,' or by the separation of 

 portions from the edge of the base {Gosse). Sexes either united or distinct. 



Sub-class ZOANTHARIA. 



Polyps with simple or occasionally branched tentacles, six in number, or a 

 multiple of six. 



Order MALACODERMATA. 



To this order belong the 'sea anemones' which form so beautiful a feature in 

 a well kept aquarium, but the Indian forms have as yet received little attention. 

 They have no skeleton, and are mostly solitary — the ZoantJiida only being united by 

 a common stem. 



Order SCLEROBASICA. 



This order embraces the branching horny ' corals ' devoid of a rigid skeleton. 



Order SCLERODERMATA. 



These are the stony corals, including those species which in tropical seas form 

 coral reefs. The animal of the coral is of a gelatinous consistency, the ' coral ' being 

 the common skeleton of countless thousands of the coral animals, to which the 

 'coral' owes the -sdvid hues it presents during life. No attempt has as yet been 

 made to catalogue the corals on the coast of Burma, though a few species procured 

 by myself are in the Indian Museum at Calcutta. 



Sub-class ALCYONARIA. 



Polype with ('ight ])innately fringed tentacles iu one series. 



Order ALCYONIACE.^. 



Ectoderm leathery with calcareous spicules imbedded. No sclerobasis. Per- 

 manently rooted. 



Family Alcyoniidae. 



Nephthya, sp. Arakan. 



A single specimen (which Dr. Gunther was unable to determine specificalh) 

 was obtained by mo on the coast (W. T.j. 



