76 REPORT—1843. 
it is impossible even to hazard an opinion. It is a singular fact, that it is invariably by 
the thinner of the two faces that the ovum becomes attached, and even in this simple 
occurrence, among these apparently insignificant organisms, a design is evident; for 
after the polype tube has become decomposed, and the ovum exposed to the influence 
of disintegrating agents, the free, and consequently unprotected, surface is by this ar- 
rangement always the thicker and the more resisting. 
There would appear to be no possible way by which the ova can be liberated from 
the tubes but by the decomposition of the latter ; and we accordingly find, after the 
zoophyte has entirely disappeared from the surface of the stone on which it crept, 
rows of these bodies occupying the place of the original polypidom, and mapping out 
its several ramifications. Notwithstanding the apparently complete destruction of 
the polypidom, the ova are found closely adherent to the substance to which the 
zoophyte had been fixed. This would appear to be effected through the medium of 
that portion of the tube to which they adhered ; for the remainder of the polypidom 
becoming decomposed and washed away by the action of the water, this alone remains, 
being protected on each side from the influence of external agents. 
When the progress of development has gone on for a certain time in the ovum, the 
faces of the disc separate from one another, each retaining that lamina of the rim 
which is connected with it. The young zoophyte being now at liberty, in all proba- 
bility enjoys a power of free locomotion in the surrounding element, not becoming 
adherent till a subsequent period of its development. Though Dr. Allman has not 
succeeded in obtaining it in this free state, the supposition is borne out by the circum- 
stance of his having frequently found the empty shells adhering to stones without any 
trace of the zoophyte; and also by the fact, that the change of state from the free to 
the fixed commonly prevails, not only among the genuine polypifera, but among the 
Ascidian Mollusca, an order of animals to which the subject of the present memoir 
possesses a much closer physiological relation than what is found to exist between it 
and the true polypes. i ae 
Dr. Allman exhibited to the Section, specimens of an Annelid, which he discovered 
some years ago in the bogs of the south of Ireland, and which was the cause of a 
luminous appearance. It was closely allied to the earthworm: when irritated, it 
gave out a phosphorescent light, which was also much increased when the animal 
was exposed to the vapour of alcohol. The light was of the peculiar green colour 
so usual on the phosphorescence of living animals. The Rey. F. B. Clarke had also 
found these annelids in the bogs of Connaught. 
List of the Insects found in the county of Cork. By W. CxiEar, F.L.S. 
When it became known that the British Association was about to visit Cork, it was 
proposed that lists of the Fauna and Flora of the county of Cork should be made 
out, as far as circumstances would permit, and the preparation of the list of insects 
devolved on Mr. Clear, as the only person who was known to have paid any attention 
to the entomology of that district. The list is so extremely imperfect, that the author 
desires it to be regarded only as a commencement. In it two orders, the Diptera and 
Hemiptera, have been altogether omitted, and several families, particularly those of 
minute size, have been scarcely noticed. ‘The absence of a list of the dipterous in- 
sects is, however, the less to be regretted, as the insects of this order inhabiting the 
northern portion of Ireland have been already elaborated by A. H. Haliday, Esq. 
Mr. Clear’s list consisted principally of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. 
Mr. Thompson, on behalf of Mr. Hyndman of Belfast, exhibited to the Section a 
specimen of that singular annelid, which forms for itself a quill-like case, the Nereis 
tubicola of Miiller, described and figured in the ‘ Zoologia Danica.’ ‘The present is 
the first announcement of it as a British species. Three or four specimens were 
dredged from a depth of forty fathoms, off Sana Island, on the western coast of Scot- 
land, by Mr. Hyndman, in July 1842.—Mr. Thompson also read a description, drawn 
up by Mr. Hyndman, of a species of hydrostatic Acalepha, taken in Belfast Bay, by 
Edmund Getty, Esq. in August 1841. It is the first record of any species of the 
family Physsophorida occurring in the British seas. The species being considered 
new, has been named Apolemia Gettiana. 
