HYDROID ZOOPHYTES. 51 



There is lio\Yever a hiatus in this chain. I should have 

 particularly wislied to see one or more specimens between 

 the condition of the adherent globule, and that of the formed 

 and growing tube ; but of this intermediate stage my glass 

 plates presented no specimen. And whether the water in 

 the shallow stage-troughs, to which I removed the plates for 

 microscopic examination, afforded insufficient nutriment, I 

 know not ; but I could not find that any individual speci- 

 men continued to grow after removal from the larger vessel ; 

 and they shortly gave evident tokens of death and decay." 



LaOMEDEA DICHOTOilA. 



The genus Laomedea is thus described by Johnston : — 

 "Polypidom rooted by a creeping fibre, plant-like, erect, 

 jointed at regular intervals, the joints ringed, incrassated, 

 giving origin, alternately from opposite sides, to the shortly- 

 pedicled cells ; cells campanulate ; vesicles axillary ; polypes 

 hydraform.''' 



L, dicJwtoma rises to the height of a foot, or even tw^o 

 feet. The stem bends angularly, and gives ofP a short 

 branch at each bend. The cells are shaped like bells, and 

 their stems ringed, three times as long as the bells. The 

 polypes are of a red colour. ^' This Coralline," observes 



