loO MARVELS OF POND-LIFE. 



tubular, but a solid gelatinous mass, enveloping the 

 animal as high up as the base of the rotary arms. 

 It is very likely that specimens at different ages, 

 and possibly in different seasons, may vary in the 

 structure of their abodes; but I am not able to 

 concur in the preceding account, as all the tubes 

 I examined resembled sacks turned in at the mouth, 

 and attached to the shoulders only of their inmates; 

 and on one occasion I was able to look down into 

 a deserted tube, Avhicli had not collapsed, as it would 

 have done if it had been merely a solid gelatinous 

 mass. 



Like the Floscule, the Stephanoceros only reveals 

 her beauties under careful illumination. A direct 

 light renders them invisible, and only when the 

 requisite obliquity has been obtained, does the ex- 

 quisite character of the structure become displayed. 

 The dark-ground illumination is very useful, and 

 makes the cilary action very distinct. At times a 

 view can be obtained, in which the cilia of perhaps 

 a single tentacle are all ranged like the steel springs 

 of a musical box. For a moment they are quiescent, 

 and then they vibrate in succession, each moving 

 thread sparkling in the light. With a clumsy mode 

 of lighting them, the cilia look like stumpy bristles, 

 and are often so drawn; but precisely the right 

 quantity of light coming in the right direction, 

 makes them appear more numerous, and much longer 



