108 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [402] 
lucidum, which forms large, hemispherical or irregular masses, often six 
or eight inches, or even more, in diameter, with the surface more or 
less completely covered by adhering sand. These masses consist of a 
large number of lobes or basal branches, which come out from a com- 
mon base as elongated, stolon-like processes, and enlarge upward to the 
end, which is obtusely rounded, and variable in size, but usually from 
a quarter to half an inch, while the length may be from one to six 
inches; these lobes often coalesce, more or less completely, at the upper 
surface, which is sometimes naked and smooth, translucent, and of a 
gelatinous appearance. Each of these lobes contains a central cloacal 
orifice, around which a colony of minute ascidians, or zodids, are 
grouped, in a manner analogous to the arrangement in Botryllus, already 
described, (p. 389,) but in the present case the zodids are very long and 
slender; the lower end of each, containing the ovaries, with the heart 
at its extremity, extends down toward the base of the lobe in which they 
are contained to various distances, varying according to the age and 
state of development of each zodid, but the full-grown ones are often 
nearly aninch long. Each zodid has its own branchial orifice opening at 
the surface, as in Botryllus, while all the anal tubes discharge the refuse 
water, feces, and eggs into the common cloacal ducts. 
The Amarecium stellatum is another related species, which is nearly 
as abundant as the last, and likewise grows to a very large size. It 
forms large, smooth, irregular plates, or crest-like lobes and masses, 
which are attached by one edge to the stones and gravel. These plates 
are sometimes oue to two feet long, six inches high, and about an inch 
thick, and, owing to their smooth surface and whitish color, look some- 
thing like great slices of salt-pork, and in fact it is often called ‘ sea- 
pork” by the fishermen. Other specimens will be four or five inches 
high, and only one or two inches broad at the base, and perhaps half 
an inch in thickness, and the summit often divides into broad, flat, 
blunt lobes; various other shapes also occur, some of them very irreg- 
ular. The larger specimens of this species are generally of a pale-blu- 
ish or sea-green color by reflected light when first taken from the water, 
but pale salmon or flesh-color by transmitted light. The zodids are 
much elongated and arranged in more or less regular circular groups 
over the whole surface, with a sinall cloacal orifice in the center of each 
circle. If kept in water, when they grow sickly the zodids will be 
forced partially or wholly out of their cavities by the contraction of 
the tissues around them—a peculiarity seen also in other species of this 
genus. These zodids have the branchial tube prominently six-lobed, 
and of a bright orange-color, this color also extending over the upper 
or outer end of the body, between the tubes, and more or less over thie 
branchial sac, which is pale yellow or whitish below. The stomach is 
longitudinally suleated, with bright orange-red ribs or glands; intes- 
tine bright orange or yellow. : 
This species is devoured by sharks, skates, and the tautog, although 
