20 BOTRYLLIDiE. 



to twenty or more individuals, yellowisla and reddish. Branchial 

 aperture white, surrounded by a circle of broad ferruginous spots ; 

 a red spot on the centre of each individual. Mass often measur- 

 ing several inches across; individuals one-twentieth of an inch 

 in diameter. 



fleshy, coral-like substance ; in a letter to Mr. Peter Collmson, F.R.S., from Dr. 

 Albert Schlosser, M.D., F.R.S., with some observations on it communicated to 

 Mr. Collinson by Mr. John Ellis, F.R S." Being short, we quote it : — 



" ' De.ir Sir, — I hired some fishermen to dredge for mc in this harbour, in order to 

 examine the small English coral, or CoraUium 7iostras of Ray's " SjTiopsis," recent 

 in the microscope. The first time they hauled in the dredge, I discovered a most 

 extraordinary sea production surrounding the stem of an old Fucus teres : it was 

 of a hardish but fleshy substance, and more than an inch thick, of a light brown 

 or ash-coloiu', tlie whole surface covered over with bright yellow, shining, and 

 star-like bodies, which induced me to believe it to be an undescribcd species of 

 Alcyonium. I put it immediately into a bucket of sea-water, expecting every 

 moment that the poh'pes, which I thought to lodge in those little stars, would 

 extend and shew themselves like those of the Alcyonium No. 2 of Ray's " Sy- 

 nopsis," commonly called " dead man's hand;" but after more than half-an-hour's 

 attention, the vessel lying very quiet all the time, I did not perceive the least ap- 

 pearance of any polypes ; upon which I brought them to shore in the sea-water, 

 and then, by means of my microscope, I discovered every one of those stars to be 

 a true animal, and much more beautiful than any polype, but quite of a different 

 structure, which I shall now describe to you. 



" ' Every one of those stars is composed of many thin hollow radii, of a pear-shape 

 form, from five to twelve or more in number, all united intimatelj' at their smaller 

 end ; every radius appears broad at the extreme part from the centre, and a little 

 convex in the middle of this raised broad part. When the animal is alive there 

 apjjcars a circular little hole, which contracts and opens itself frequently. All the 

 radii are of this structure ; but their common centre, which is formed by a com- 

 bination of the small converging extremities, exhibits an opening of a circular, 

 oval, or oblong figure, fonning a kind of rising rim like a cup, which, when the 

 animal is alive and at rest, contracts and expands itself to many different degrees, 

 with great alertness and velocity, though sometimes it remains a great while ex- 

 panded or contracted. In all these holes, the central lai'ge one, as well as the 

 smaller ones, (which last I take to be the mouths of the animals,) I could not per- 

 ceive any tcntacula, or claws, on the outside ; but, by looking into them verj- nar- 

 rowly, I saw something like vcrj- tender little fibres moving at the bottom of their 

 insides. 

 " ' By comparing and examining all the various pieces I had collected of this fleshy 

 substance, with its shining stars, I observed that the size and colour, as well as 

 the very figure of these stars, varied greatly, but the structure of the leaf-like 

 radii, and that of their mouths, and their motions, were perfectly the same in 

 every one individual. 



