Royal Microscopical Society. 
7 
ance to F. campanulata. “ The dorsal lobe is frequently much 
longer than the other two , and when such is the case it is commonly 
curved forwards over the funnel-shaped mouth, and presents a some- 
what hooked appearance : the setae are also differently arranged ” 
i.e. from those of F. campanulata, “being placed between the 
lobes as well as on their summits.” “ The cloaca is situated high 
in the body ; ” he shows it at the neck. Let Dr. Collins imagine 
himself in the same predicament, and he will have a case equally 
consistent with the laws of animal physiology. The so-called intes- 
tine is shown to extend all along the hasmal side of the body, on 
the side opposite to the ganglion; but in. every individual of this 
Family the anus is situated on the same side as the ganglion. 
Dermal System. 
The theca in the first Family (Plate XXIV., Fig. 1) is secreted 
from a secerning gland situated at the foot, and the integument, 
after expanding at the base upon its selected habitat, ascends to the 
neck of the animal, and from thence it returns downwards along 
the body, forming an annular space between the inner and outer 
integuments, which space is filled 'with a hyaline fluid similarly with 
the ectocyst of Lophopus crystallinus of the Polyzoa. In Floscu- 
laria, however, this fluid becomes somewhat turbid in the older 
animals. 
The inner lining forms a tidndar space commencing at a point 
somewhat below the anus, thus leaving a free passage for the dis- 
charge of the ova and faeces along the body of the animal. The 
attachment of the theca with the pedicle differs in extent in different 
individuals. I have had ample opportunities of proving beyond 
dispute that this organic attachment of the theca is real, having 
liberated numerous patients from their selected supports without 
in any degree injuring the theca ; and when in this free condition, 
and left with perfect freedom of motion, these animals made consider- 
able invaginations of the theca with every regression of the body, 
which under such abnormal conditions were frequently repeated, 
both at their anterior and posterior regions. 
The animals of the Genus Floscularia manifest a predilection for 
liberating themselves from their investing thecae, and re-establishing 
themselves in new ones, a habit which is not practised by Stephano- 
ceros. But there is a peculiarity with the theca of Stephanoceros 
that does not obtain to such a definite extent with any of the Flos- 
cularia; I refer to the corrugations which occur along the whole 
length of the theca, and upon the origin of these corrugations much 
misapprehension has been manifested. They have actually been 
attributed to the “ tube sinking from its own weight ” ; the ab- 
surdity of which is at once apparent when we know that the specific 
