MICKOHYDRA DUKINfi I907. lOI 



during a period of about eight hours, I have attempted to 

 show by a dozen drawings, from which the following have 

 been selected : Plate II, Figures 3 to 7.* 



July 4th. After searching for a colony enjoying better 

 light and exposure, I selected a bicapitate pair rather favor- 

 abl)^ placed and so transparent that I feared they were suffer- 

 ing from lack of nourishment, so endeavored to supply fresh 

 meat by transferring to this jar some of the setigerous worms 

 seen in another. Returning after a short absence, I found the 

 head at my left hand busily engaged in swallowing one of the 

 largest of these worms, whose free end writhed in vigorous 

 efforts to escape. I need not dwell upon the disasters of this 

 campaign. Its final result was determined when a line of 

 transverse fission was reached and the latter end of that worm, 

 too large for the hydroid to swallow and more fortunate than 

 the first, broke off and crept away to renew, if needed, the 

 part it had lost. (See Plate II). 



July 5th. On examining the hydroid this morning, I find 

 both branches gorged with food particles, and have clearly 

 seen at each everted mouth the slender setce known to have 

 been swallowed by but one of them, as appurtenances of the 

 above described worm, now disgorged (Plate I, Figures 3-4). 



July 7th. A new subject was placed before the micro- 

 scope, selected on account of the unusually bloated appearance 

 of both branches of the hydroid. The constant discharge of 

 digested matter from both mouths convinced me that the 

 creature had been overfed and was suffering from surfeit ; and 

 the further appearance of setcr at both mouths made it pro- 

 bable that this colony, also, had like Luther, been entertained 

 at the " Diet of Worms." At 7 o'clock a. m. I saw the early 

 condition of another larva which has, at i p. m., been fully 

 separated from the hydroid. 



Another observation recorded late in October presents our 



*My attention has been called to the fact that this mode of repro- 

 duction seems often to follow closely after excessive feeding. 



