14 



tail irregulaily barred, and dotted vvitli ricli brown and yel]owish 

 white ; the legs aud feet reddish brown." 



Dr. Grant exhibited numerous specimens of lanthina vulgaris, 

 Lam., and of Vclella limiosa, Lam., both animals ofrare occurrence 

 on the English coast, and chiefly met vvith floating in tropical or 

 vvarmer seas. They were obtained by him at the beginning of Sep- 

 tember lašt, in Whitsand Bay, closeto the point of the Land's End, 

 Cornu'all, where they vvere throvvn in great numbers on the sands, 

 afterastorm,of threedays' continuance, from the north-west : they 

 mušt consequently have been floating, before they were directed to 

 the coast by the storm, in latitudes at least as high as that in which 

 they vvere found. Dr. Grant regards it as probable that neither of 

 these animals is capable of discharging at \vill the gaseoiis fluid by 

 wiiich they are supported on tlie surface of the sea; otherrtise in such 

 a violent and continued tempest as that which stranded them, tiiey 

 would have emptied their vesicies, and have sunk to the t.tiller bot- 

 tom. Ile suspects alsothat Physalia is equally incapable of emptying 

 its air bag. 



In the VelellcB of our coast, Dr. Grant remarked, as in those of 

 tropical seas, the perpendicular crest crosses obliquely the horizontai 

 disc of the base; in both, the margin of tlie niantle, dcstitute oi ten- 

 iaciila, hangs free over the circumference of the dii^c ; in both, the 

 outer rangės o\' tentacula are long and filiform, and tlie inner rangės 

 of tentacula, immedialely surrounding the njouth, are short, thick, 

 tubular, and much resembling the fleshy tubular feet oi' Kchinoder- 

 mata\ and in both, the mouth forms a projecting fleshy tube in the 

 centre of the base of the body. The tul)ular niouiii in the centre, 

 much resembling in form the short tubular feet around it, leads to 

 an oval stomach, occupying a concavity in the middle of the lower 

 surface of the thick basiiar plate. But in the Indian Vėleliu the 

 perpendicular crest is proportionaliy very strong and thick, and pre- 

 sents a beautifully serrated margin, and that u)argin takes a zigzag 

 course, vvhich he has not observed in our specimens, and which mušt 

 add much to its effects in decomposing the sun-beams, \vhile swim- 

 niingon the calm surface of tropical seas. 



The specimens of / clella cast on the sliore of Corn\va!l were gene- 

 rally much injured, and many of tliem had lošt all their fleshy sub- 

 stance. Nearly a hundred of them were collected, and \veie exhibited 

 to the Society. On lifiing them, the decp blue matter of their sur- 

 face came easily oft", and tinged the fingers, likę theyellow matter of 

 decaying Asterice, or the colouring matter of the surface of alraost 

 all the Echinodermata, \vhen their vitality has ceased. 



The Velella probably feeds on the myriads of microscopic 

 Crustacea, vvhich abound in every part of the sea;and the lanl/iiiia, 

 a predaceous Gasteropod tlius accompanying the Vclella, may prey 

 upon it, and acquire from it the blue colouring matter of its shell. 



