83 



Genus III. Lophopus, Dumortier, 1835. 



Name. — From \6(pof, a crest, and wow, a foot. 



In a historical point of view, Lophopus is the most interesting genus of the entire class. 

 The " Polype a Panache," discovered by Trembley, in 1741, was the first Polyzoon of which 

 we have any record. It long continued to be confounded with species of Plumatella and 

 Alcyonella, until Dumortier, rediscovering it in 1834, and perceiving its distinctness, assumed 

 it as the type of a new genus, and described it under the name of Lophopus crystalliniis. 

 Though the characters given by Dumortier to his new genus are not entirely correct, yet with 

 some alterations in his diagnosis, Lophopus must be preserved as a well-marked and easily 

 characterised generic form. 



Shortly after the original discovery of the " Polype :\ Panache," the same animal was met 

 with in England by Baker, who described it under the appellation of the " Bellflower animal." 

 M. Van Beneden believes Baker's animal to be distinct from that of Trembley, and describes 

 it by the name of Lophopus Bakeri ; but there are certainly no grounds for this distinction. 

 Indeed, I am convinced that the animal called L. Bakeri by Van Beneden, and which has 

 been so beautifully figured by this naturalist, is entirely identical with L. crystallinus ; I 

 must therefore still consider the genus as consisting of but a single species, the oiiginal 

 " Polype a. Panache '' of Trembley. 



Generic character. — Coencecium sacciform, hyaline, with a disc which serves for attach- 

 ment but not for locomotion ; ectocyst gelatinoid ; orifices scattered. Statoblasts elliptical, 

 with an annulus, but without marginal spines. 



Species unica. Lophopus cri/stallinus, Pallas. PI. II. 

 Specific character. — Same as that of the genus. 



Synonyms. — 1744. Polype a Panache. Trembley, Mem. sur les Pol. d'eau douce, p. 210, 



tab. 10, figs. 8, 9. (Original figures.) 

 1746. Polype a Panache. Bteck, Acta Suecica, p. 198, tab. G, figs. 3, 4. (Figures 



copied from Trembley.) 

 1753. Bell-flower Aniniul. Baker, Employment for the Microscope, p. 30G, pi. 12, 



figs. 15-22. (Original figures.) 



1766. Tubularia crystalUna. Pallas, Elenchus Zooph., p. 88. 



1767. Ttibularia campanulata. Limiseus, Syst. Nat., edit. xii. 

 1789. Tubularia reptans. Linn., Syst. Nat. cura Gmelin, p. 3835. 



1789. Campanulated Tubularia. Shaw, Nat. Miscel., tab. 354. (Original figure.) 

 1806. Tubularia campunulata. Turton, Linn., Syst. Nat., vol. iv, p. 668. 

 1816. Plumatella cristuta. Lamarck, Hist, des An. sans Vert., 1st edit., vol. ii, 

 p. 107. 



