292 FLOSCULARIA HOODII. 



PI, III. In his description he says: — "I cannot yet hazard a 

 suggestion as to the function that these finger-hke processes 

 perform." 



As I have since had frequent opportunities of observing this 

 creature in various stages of its development, I desire in the 

 present paper to supplement Dr. Hudson's description. The 

 finger-hke processes are hollow tubes open at the points. The 

 upper end of each of these processes is slightly constricted ; the 

 tubes communicate with two sub-spherical spaces lying between 

 the two surfaces of the dorsal lobe. Fine muscular threads pass 

 down and across the tubes ; the threads run down from their base 

 on the dorsal side to the neck below the vestibule. The animal 

 can contract each of these tubes independently of the other, and 

 can put them in different positions ; there is not a trace of setae at 

 their apex to suggest their function as antennae or feelers. The 

 lateral antennae are situated in the same region to those of the 

 other species of Floscularia. Their function is doubtless that of 

 excretory organs. 



I have frequently observed that both the adult and young 

 individuals discharge a granular mucous matter through these 

 finger-like processes, which gathers round their free extremities, as 

 shown in PI. XIV., Fig. 2, g, m, and is not got rid of until the 

 animal retires into its tube, where it is rubbed off to increase the 

 volume of the creature's fluffy domicile ; when the afiimal again 

 emerges from its tube, the free ends of the finger-like processes 

 are quite freed from the accumulation. 



The cuticle of the trunk and coronal cup of 7^ Hoodii is com- 

 posed of two layers, an outer and an inner membrane, tough and 

 elastic, and between the two layers is a fluid more or less granular. 

 The granular fluid may be seen in some degree in every species, 

 but more conspicuously in F. a??ibigtia, F. algicola, and F amiu- 

 lata. In these the fluid is rendered semi-opaque by the large 

 number of granules floating therein ; but in the case of F. Hoodii 

 the granules in the fluid are not so numerous, and consequently 

 the creature is more transparent than the other species. It is 

 doubtless by means of this fluid that the lobes of the furled corona 

 are pushed forward and expanded, especially as it has inter-com- 

 municating cavities and channels containing fluid, which is driven 



