68 LIZZIA BLONDINA. 
Stomach very short ; mouth bordered by four tentaculiform lips, which do not bifurcate, but 
terminate with simple, gland-like, black-spotted, conical extremities. The motions of this 
very distinct species are jerking, and its habits, except in being solitary, like those of its 
congener. 
Plate XII, fig. 4, @ and 4, represents the Lissia blondina much magnified, seen in 
profile and from above; 4, ¢ and d, are similar views of the peduncle, tentacula, and 
gemmules; 4, ¢, is one of the larger fascicles of tentacula, with the compound bulb from 
which they spring; 4, /, the appearance of a portion of one of the tentacles, greatly 
magnified. 
I have met, both on our southern and northern coasts, with several little Meduse in an 
immature state, presenting the essential characters of Lizzza, and evidently distinct from 
either of the preceding, but have abstained from describing or figuring them as species until 
they shall have been observed in an adult condition. I do this the more willingly, as it would 
seem that the intermediate stage of several hydroid zoophytes appears to be similar to, if 
not identical with, this genus. Thus the Medusa state of the Hudendrium ramosum, figured 
by Van Beneden in the ‘ Memoirs of the Brussels Academy’ (vol. xvii, pl. 4, figs. 10-13), is 
closely related to both Bougainvillea and Lizxia, nor is the Medusa produced by Zubularia 
far removed. Sir John Dalyell has recognised this affinity of forms, in his account of the 
probable Medusa of Zubudaria, under the name of Medusa ocilia, and his comparison of it 
with a Bougainvillea (apparently B. Britannica), denominated by him Medusa duodecilia. 
His description is so interesting, and bears so importantly on the history of the Lizzéa and its 
allies, that I venture to extract it from his most valuable and beautiful work ‘On Remarkable 
Animals of Scotland,’ in the hopes of attracting the attentive observer to a subject evidently 
prolific in future discoveries :— 
“ Medusa ocilia. Minute pyriform bodies, as above specified, are dispersed on the stalk 
of different parts of the Tubularia at considerable intervals; sometimes three are together, 
sometimes two are opposite to each other, or only one terminates a twig, where it might be 
readily supposed a regenerating hydra. Each pyrulum is affixed by its own distinct pedicle, 
at first of some length, but gradually shortening as the remainder becomes more globular, or 
flattens. In a few days, the whole may be compared to the opening bud of a white rose. 
““ Now the dilatation and collapse of the subject commence; convulsive struggles ensue ; 
four pair of long, rough, muricate organs resembling tentacula, or ciliary processes, are 
gradually unfolded, and after what seems repeated, severe, and protracted exertions, a perfect 
animal of great transparence is liberated as a Medusa, suspended amidst the waters. 
“This Medusa resembles a large transverse section of an ovoid, not half a line in diameter, 
the sides of excessive tenuity, the tentacula, or ciliary organs, four or five times as long as the 
diameter of the ovoid, and quite flexible. I conjectured there might be an orifice in the upper 
surface, and that some stump or particular organization by which it was penetrated, and 
remaining behind, the animal, amidst its struggles, was kept in its place. -It is the upper 
surface which is that in application or adhesion, as may be seen of others; the lower portion 
whence the cilia originate, is meantime free. Here, as we know, the mouth or proboscis of 
the Medusarian race is situated. In the under surface, four cruciform organs were apparent. 
But the difficulty of ascertaining relative position is never to be forgot; and, in fact, organs 
apparently below, in such creatures may be in the middle, or actually above. 
