BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 311 



FAMILY II. FLUSTRELLID^. 



Zooecia immersed in a gelatinous crust; orifice hi- 

 lahiate. Larvce furnished with a bivalve shell. — T. H. 



Genus Flusteella, Gray. 



Zooecia immersed, the orifice bilabiate, with a 

 movable lip, which acts as an operculum. Zoarium 

 a gelatinous crust. — T. H. 



1. F. HispiDA, Fahricius. Plate XXIII. fig. 2. 



Flustra hispida {Fabr., DeJBl, G. J., D. L.), Alcyoni- 

 dium hispidum ((?./., P.H. G., Smitt), Flustra spongiosa 

 (Templeton), Membranipora spongiosa {G. J.), Flustra 

 carnosa {G. J., B. Q.C., Hassall, P.H.G.), Cycloum 

 hispidum (Thompson). 



Hab. : Common. 



The zoarium is gelatinous, and brown in colour. The 

 zooecia are somewhat hexagonal, with the orifices 

 '^ raised and bilabiate, bordered above and below by a 

 thin horny rib, the lower one connected with a move- 

 able lip which acts as an operculum." — Hincks. The 

 colony bristles with long spines arranged round the 

 zooecia. The polypide is very large, with 30 — 35 

 tentacles. 



" When immersed in sea- water, first a very short 

 white cylinder protrudes, and. then the integument of 

 the body unfolding like the inverted finger of a glove, 

 displays the exterior of the animal, crowned by about 

 thirty-five tentacles in campanulate arrangement. The 

 form of the polypide is elegant, light, and beautiful. 

 It rises very leisurely from the cell ; but its retreat is 

 most precipitate, vanishing in a moment.'^ — Dalyell. 



The development of the larva of this species, which 



