288 FOURTH REPORT — 1834. 



be inhabited by an annelidoiis animal. MM. Quoy and Gai- 

 mard have shown it to be a true Polype. Delle Chiaje is said 

 also to have described the animals of certain species which had 

 previously been unnoticed. Dr. Fleming in our own country 

 has made many interesting researches connected with the genera 

 and species found on the British shores*. More important con- 

 tributions, however, to our knowledge of this class of animals 

 were made in 1825, and the two succeeding years by another of 

 our countrymen, A-ihose labours in this department have acquired 

 for him the highest reputation. I allude to Dr. Grant, whose 

 series of papers on the Sponges and other zoophytes are replete 

 with new and valuable observations. Those on the Sponges es- 

 pecially, published in the Edinb. Phil. Journ. for the above 

 yearsf, contain the results of a far closer investigation than had 

 been before made into the nature of these anomalous productions. 

 Indeed he was the first to discover their true organization and 

 functions. He clearly ascertained that they do not possess any 

 folypi, nor even the power of contracting and dilating their 

 orifices, as had been formerly supposed. He was the first to 

 draw the exact distinction between the faecal orifices and the 

 pores ; as well as to point out the nature and directions of the 

 currents which are constantly passing out from the former. He 

 also succeeded in determining the origin and mode of develop- 

 ment of the ova. The memoirs just alluded to relate to the 

 Marine Sponges. In a sej^arate communication^, he gave the 

 results of a similar investigation into the nature of the Spottgilla 

 friabilis of Lamarck, found in fresh water, M'hich he showed to 

 bear a close resemblance to the above in all essential respects, 

 although more simple in its structure, and occupying a still lower 

 place in the scale of organization. In 1827 Dr. Grant extended 

 his researches to tlie FlustrtE, and published a detailed account 

 of the structure and oeconomy of this tribe of Polypi, which were 

 before but imperfectly understood. Several other equally valu- 

 able papers relating to the zoophytes appeared from him about 

 the same time, to which however I can only just allude. In one 

 of these§, he has described a new and highlj' interesting genus, 

 forming a connecting link between Alcyonium and Spongia ; 

 " allied to the former by its contractile fleshy texture, and by 

 its distinct though microscopic Polypi; to the latter, by its 



• See Edin. Phil. Journ., vol. ii. p. 82 ; and JVern. Mem., vol. iv. p. 485 ; also 

 h\& British Animals, published in 1828. 



f vols. xiii. and xiv. ; also vols. i. and ii. of the New Series. 

 X Edinb. Phil. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 270. 

 § Edinb. Phil. Journ., N.S., vol. i. p. 78. 



