LUCERNARIyE AND THEIR ALLIES. 



77 



first thought it would seem advisable to recognize an intermediate phase between 

 the latter and the former, to indicate the period when the reproductive organs are 

 developing up to the fertilizable condition; but there is an insuperable objection 

 to this mode of subdivision of ages, namely, there is no tim(>, not even when tlie 

 animal has reached extreme old age, in which some of the genital saccules are not 

 originating and developing. If any one will turn to the descrij)tion and figures of 

 the adult organs (^[ 51), he will there learn that on one border of a genital-half 

 the oldest saccules are invariably found, and that from that point onward toward the 

 opposite side these saccules become gradually less in size and lower in tlie degree 

 of development, until at the extreme border they are no further advanced than in 

 the young individual now before us. 



154. Specimens of the size mentioned above were found in the last week of 

 September. The umbella {Jhj. 20) at last has a distinct octogonal outline, and the 

 margin {^^) between the groups of tentacles, is slightly retreating. In profile the 

 body appears more strongly cyathiform than in the proxhno-ocntliie phase (§ '20), 

 and the pedicle is more slender. Added to these we mention the increased length 

 and greater slenderness of the tentacles as tending largely to give the body a more 

 graceful appearance. At the same time their increased numbers render them more 

 conspicuous, while the anchors are only a secondary feature in point of prominence. 

 The peduncle, also, is more slender than in the last stage, and its adherent disk is a 

 strongly marked expansion. There is nothing peculiar in the proboscis (p) to dis- 

 tinguish this phase; but we would call attention to the drawing for the sake of 

 explaining away the apparently minute size of this organ. It happens to be repre- 

 sented when it was strongly contracted at its anterior end, and the mouth nearly 

 closed. The object in presenting it in that state was to expose the proximal ends 

 of the four umbellar partitions (4'"), and of the reproductive organs (>.). The mus- 

 cular system of the umbella is sufficiently developed to be recognized readily, but 

 is too faint to aftect the general physiognomy of this region. 



155. 'The Tenttides. — At this age we obs(;rve for the first time traces of the pecu- 

 liar ranked arrangement, so characteristic of the full-grown forms. This is the 

 result of the taxial relation under wliich the tentacles originate, and theoretically 

 prevails in the group from its initiation ; but it docs not strike the attention of the 

 observer until increased numbers add to the length of the ranks. In the last, or 

 proximo-ovuline phase, we have noted as many as six tentacles in a group. In tlie 

 specimen now under our eyes, there are no less than nine tentacles (^Jigs. 20, 125, 



^'^ 



126) in some bunches, and one or two more in tlie others (_/?//. 21). Next to 4" of 

 the last phase (§ 20) 5 succecnls and lies in Hue witli 1 and 3, so tluit the members 



