138 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 
“T cannot perceive any permanent character by which 
S. cupressina can at all times be distinguished from S. ar- 
gentea, although typical specimens of each form bearing these 
names appear considerably different from each other. Both 
are found around the Irish coast, and together with many 
other zoophytes constituted the most beautiful collection of 
these objects I ever beheld, when gracefully depending from, 
and interlacing, the spacious trawl-nets of the Howth fisher- 
men, as they were hung up to dry on the decks of the fish- 
ing-smacks. Of the numerous species then obtained, 8. ar- 
gentea and S. cupressina were the most attractive, from their 
graceful form and magnitude, some examples attaining to 
nearly two feet in height.” (W. Thompson.) 
When Sir J. G. Dalyell mentions one which was twenty- 
seven inches in height, he speaks of it as the largest of our 
Scottish zoophytes. This held true at the time he wrote, 
but since that time a specimen of Pavonia quadrangulata 
has been dredged near Oban no less than four feet in length. 
Genus VII. THUIARIA, Meming. 
Gen. Char. Polypidom plant-like, rooted by a tubular fibre, 
erect, dichotomously branched or pinnated: the cells sessile, 
