Pennatula. ZOOPHYTA. CARNOSA. 507 



pennatuladj:. 



Gen. XXVII. PENNATULA— Base of the body fleshy, and 

 subcylindrical, supporting an oval, expanded, compressed 

 head, consisting of soft processes, proceeding obliquely from 

 a mid-rib, and supporting, on one side, the denticles or cells 

 containing the polypi. 



68. P. phosphorea. The Sea-pen.— Stem villous, and desti- 

 tute of a spine at the base of each lateral process ; colour pur- 

 ple. 



Penna marina, Sib. Scot. ii. p. 28. WaU Or. p. 38 — Pennatula phos. 

 Linn. Syst. 1322. Ellis, Ph. t. liii. t. xix. f. 1, 5 — P. Britannica Sol. 

 Zoop. p. 61. — Penna marina, Cord. R. No. 18. Adheres to the mussel- 

 baits of the fishermen, on the east coast of Scotland, not uncommon. 

 The length is from 2 to 8 inches. Stem round and fleshy at the base, and 

 closely set with minuSe spines ; compressed and grooved in the middle be- 

 tween the processes, and terminating in a point. The processes commence 

 about the middle of the stem, increase in length gradually, and then decrease 

 in the same manner, to the point, forming, in the outline, the segment of a 

 circle on each aide. Along the upper side cf each process, is a row of tubular 

 denticles, having the margins of the mouths armed with moveable spicula. 

 The polypi have cylindrical stems, with eight long tentacula, which are ca- 

 pable of retiring within the denticle. 



Gen. XXVIII. VIRGULARIA.— Body linear, supporting, 

 towards the upper extremity, sessile, lunate lobes, embrac- 

 ing the stem obliqviely, and bearing a row of cells on their 

 margin. 



69. V. mirabilis. — Stem filiform, with alternate lobes trans- 

 versely ridged. 



Pennatula mirabilis, Linn. Mus. Ad. t. xix. f. 4. (copied Phil. Trans, liii- 

 t. XX. f. 17.)— Amcen. Acad. iv. p. 257. Pal. Zoop. 371. Sower. Brit. 

 Misc. i. p. 51. t. XXV.— On the east and north coast of Scotland, where 

 it is believed by the fishermen to have one end lodged erect in the 

 mud ; in Zetland it is called the Sea-Rush. 

 Length about a foot. The central bone is white, filiform, and cylindrical. 

 When broken across, it appears striated from the centre (like a Belemnite), 

 as Lamarck found in his V. australis. On the fleshy back there is a groove 

 from the ridge, on each side of which the lobes arise. These resemble a crest, 

 embrace the side of the stem, and a portion of its front obliquely, and termi- 

 nate in a recurrent manner, the point of one meeting with the bend of the 

 higher one from the opposite side. Each lobe is subpectinated with about 

 eight or ten ridges, constituting as many cells, with a simple pore on the 

 margin for a polypus. 



I have ventured to unite under this species, the preceding synonimes, 

 though three species are constituted by Lamarck, out of the Pennatula mira- 

 bilis of Linnaeus, Pallas, and Muller. A comparison, however, of the descrip- 



