1893.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 3 



Nothing daunted, even though the weather was still very hot, I 

 made another visit. That collection^ " hurried up " and went bad 

 the following day. Again and again I tried, but, from some inex- 

 plicable cause, every gathering went in the same manner, and 

 finally C lacusti'is went also, gradually disappearing from the 

 canal. I did hope to secure some germs at least, but the only re- 

 sult I to-night have of all these rich hauls, and after some eight or 

 ten visits, is a piece of weed in spirit, which originally carried a few 

 hundred forms, three to six on a stem. This I exhibit to give an 

 idea of the enormous numbers in which it was found. 



What investigations I was able to make confirmed a good many 

 of Allman's illustrations. But I found two points of difference, 

 otherwise the Society would have been spared a narration of my 

 experiences. 



One point of difference relates to the general position of the 

 tentacula, which were spread in all directions and presented a 

 free, wavy appearance, as in C. coronata. As shown by Allman — 

 see April Journal, plate 30 — they stand almost vertical, whilst 

 in my "solitary specimen," exhibited November 6th, 1891, they 

 stood out like wires from a telegraph pole. Some few specimens 

 which I was able to retain up to ten days ago had the same free, 

 wavy appearance. Allman's presentation, however, may have 

 been an accidental difference, produced by exceptional environ- 

 ments, and I do not lay much stress upon the point. 



But the second point, as to the numbers of the tentacula, 

 seems to me an important one. Allman very strangely omits to 

 specifically state the number of tentacula, except in his descrip- 

 tion where he says, " Polypi tentaculis numerosis sparsis tereti- 

 bus," thus leaving it to be inferred that, although numerous, their 

 number is uncertain. And yet in his illustrations, of which he 

 gives four, one, an immature form, is figured with thirteen, whilst 

 of the three matured forms one is figured with twelve and two 

 with thirteen. So that, to say the least, tentacula are " an un- 

 certain quantity." But it is not unfair to Allman to assume that 

 he considered thirteen the maximum number. Now, I found in 

 these captures the tentacula varied in number from ten to twenty, 

 and of these latter so many instances as to convince me that it 

 was not an abnormal number, but quite common. However, 

 that this statement might not go forth on my unsupported testi- 



