REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA, 217 



EEPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 



COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 



OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 



BY A. JIILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC, PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 

 IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 



(Continued from j)('!l'' 202.) 



PART III. — ViRGULARiA MiRABiLis. Lamai'ck. 

 Of Virgularia mirahiUK there were obtained — 



a. Seven living specimens, varying in length froin six to ten inches. 



b. Two bare stems, of three and six inches length respectively. 

 The specimens were dredged at fom- spots: (1) off DunoUie Castle 



(Station I. of the General Report of the Dredging Excursion) ; (2) mid- 

 way between Lismore Point and the mainland (Station III.) ; (3) the 

 southern end of Kerrera Sound (Station IV.) ; and (4) off Lismore 

 Point (Station VI.). In the first of these localities Virgularia was 

 taken in company with Pennatula ; and in the second and fourth with 

 Funiculiuu. In all four cases the depth was about twenty fathoms, 

 and the bottom mud. 



Description of the Figures in Plate IV. 



Fig. 1 is re luced from a drawing made from the specimen in the Glasgow 

 Museum, referred to in the text as the only specimen at present known to be 

 perfect at the top. The dotted outline of the stalk has been copied from a figure 

 by Dalyell. Figs. S and i are drawn direct with the camera from one of the Oban 

 specimens. Figs. 5. G, and 7 are constructed from separate camera drawings of 

 the several parts shown, the preparations in all cases being from one of the 

 Oban specimens. 



Alphabetical List of Refer en- es. 



a. Eachis. 



b. Stalk. 



c. Stem. 



d. Polype. 

 d . Leaf. 



dr. Rudimentai'y polype. 



e. Zooid. 



o. Mesentery. 



ov. Egg of Eutomostracon, embedded 



in mesenterial filament. 



p. Retractor muscle. 



' . Short mesenterial filament. 



s. Long mesenterial filament. 



t. Ovum. 



Tentacle. u. Main canals of rachis. 



V. Small canals of rachis. 



vr. Badial canals. 



7V. Ectoderm. 



X. Mesoderm. 



ij. Endoderm. 



JO. Foreign bodj', swallowed as food 



0. Calyx. 



h. Cavity in calyx. 



Im. Longitudinal muscles of rachis. 



m. Mouth. 



71. Stomach. 



Fig. L— View of an entire specimen of Vi gu'a.' ia: the rachis drawn from the 

 specimen in the Glasgow .Museum, and the stalk copied from a figure by Dalyell, 

 The figures along the left-han 1 side of the rachis indicate the pitch of the leaves 

 at the points opposite which they are placed. 'J'hus the top figure (43) 

 indicates that at this point tlio leaves occur at the rate of -18 per inch, x i- 



Fig. -2. — The stem of the sp.*cimen in Fig. 1, drawn partly from actual 

 measurements, and the lower part added from figures by Dalyell, and Korcn 

 and Danielssen. x J- 



Fig. ii. — Dorsal view of a small portion of the rachis of one of the Oban 

 specimens, showing one pair of leaves and part of a second pair, with the rachis 

 connecting them. Shows clearly the characteristic bending upwards of the 

 ventral angles of the leaves. X G. 



Fig. 4. — Ventral view of the same specimen as in Fig. .'). Shows the bare 

 ventral surface of the rachis ; the mode of attachment of the leaves to the 

 rachis ; and the fusion of the polypes to form the leaves. X G. 



Fig. o. — .\ transverse section of the rachis about its middle, with the whole of 

 one leaf and the base of its fellow of the opposite side. Shows structure of 



