606 FOURTH REPORT — 1834. 



quitting the ovum it attaches itself to some solid substance by 

 the base, then dispi-oportionately large, from which a second 

 polypus quickly rises, then a third, and a fourth ; and thus with 

 others. In earlier stages the Cristatella mirabilis seems to be 

 of a circular figure, and in its most mature state there is a mar- 

 gin projecting beyond the root of the polypi. 



6. Cristatella paludosa. — The indistinct descriptions of au- 

 thors embarrass naturalists excessively in their endeavours to 

 recognise the lower animals ; and this will be found one prin- 

 cipal source of midtiplied synonyms, and of the errors some- 

 times unjustly charged on the framers of each sy sterna naturce. 



That which is here designated the Cristatella paludosa ap- 

 pears generally as a grey gelatinous mass, overspreading the 

 surface of fresh or faded leaves in a single stratum, and pos- 

 sibly thickening into a blackish spongy substance with age. 

 During eai'lier stages, while merely superficial, it invests the 

 under surface of the growing leaf in an irregular stellate figure 

 with diverging points. When larger it extends into an area equal 

 to two or three square inches over one or both sides, especially 

 of the leaves which have fallen, and, unlike the Cristatella 

 mirabilis, it is affixed in firm and permanent adhesion. 



The whole is studded with white specks, proving under the 

 microscope to be as many polypi, intimately resembling the 

 former in their general structure and nature ; but they are in- 

 finitely smaller : more than one is incorporated with a common 

 portion ; nor do the tentacula bordering the crescent exceed 

 forty-four or forty-eight. The arrangement of the intestinal 

 parts and their functions seem the same. 



Numerous minute ova, resembling the former, but not ex- 

 ceeding a tenth part of their size, and destitute of circumferen- 

 tial spines, are dispersed throughout the greyish mass, being 

 more accumulated towards the white bases of the polypi. They 

 seem to escape from the recent product by transmission through 

 the tubular body of the polypus, passing between the side and 

 the intestinal organ, to be dischai'ged somewhere above. The 

 ova escape from the recent Cristatella mirabilis also, but in 

 what manner has not been ascertained. 



Multitudes, liberated as the Cristatella paludosa breaks up 

 in decay, are usually attracted to the side of the vessel by the 

 curve which is formed there by the water, besides some re- 

 maining at the surface. The ovum gapes as before, and the 

 two halves sunder to give birth to a single polypus, often in a 

 few days after discharge or liberation. The nascent animals 

 are affixed permanently to the first spot they reach, and in the 

 course of increment their bodies seem incorporated together. 



