159 
polypide, forces upon him the conviction that this new bud 
is the descendent of the brown body ; therefore he designates 
this body as “‘ groddkapsel,” “‘ a germ capsule,” produced in 
an asexual way, and showing much affinity in function with 
the statoblasts of the Phylactoleemata. 
Professor Claparéde, in his late paper,! devotes a separate 
chapter to the discussion of this mode of reproduction. This 
very conscientious zoologist does not agree with the views of 
Smitt; he believes that the brown bodies are not the result 
of a retrogressive metamorphosis of the polypide formerly 
contained in the lodge, but a secretion of the endocyst, and 
that the real products of this retrogressive metamorphosis 
are the things which Smitt looks upon as young buds pro- 
duced by the groddkapslar,—the retrogressive metamopho- 
sis taking place in such a way that the polypide, having 
attained its maturity, passes anew but in inverse order 
through all the stages through which it has passed during its 
development. ‘The process he supposes to take place is, 
therefore, the same a flower would undergo if, after having 
fully expanded, it should close again and retransform itself 
into a bud, vanishing by and bye by gradual diminution. 
Professor Claparéde was kind enough to express in his 
paper a regret that I had not put forward my opinion about 
the point in question, and being now able to do so, I will 
not delay to comply with his wishes. 
One of the species which furnished to Smitt the evidence 
that the “ groddkapslar”’ are the result of a decomposition of 
the polypides, is Flustra membranacea. This author gives 
also a drawing of some zoccia of this species whose poly- 
pides are decaying, but it is so minute, and the description 
of the process itself so very laconic, that it is not very per- 
suasive, and a more accurate drawing seems to be required. 
The cells in the interior of a colony of Flustra membranacea 
are, in most cases, provided with polypides, but a closer 
inspection shows that scattered over the whole colony there 
are groups of a few cells containing decaying polypides ; such 
a group is represented by the adjoined woodcut. 
A still stronger evidence of the correctness of the views of 
Smitt about the origin of the brown bodies is offered by the 
circumstance that it is very often possible to distinguish in 
the interior of them distinct remains of the food swallowed 
by the polypides when living, especially the siliceous tests of 
diatomaceous algae and radiolarian animals, a fact utterly 
incompatible with the suggestion of Claparéde that the brown 
1 «Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftl. Zoologie,’ xxi, p. 147. 
