RHABDOPKEURA MIRAUILIS. 23 



nourished in water where organic matter in solution does 

 not exist. It becomes, then, a matter of some interest to 

 attempt to connect such movements and such cell-growth 

 with nutrition by such organic matter as would be assimilated 

 by low animal forms. 



On Rhabdopleura mirabilis (M. Sars). By George 

 OssiAN Sars. (With Plate I.)^ 



In the year 1866 I dredged, together with other deep-sea 

 animals, from a depth of 120 fathoms at Skraaven in 

 Lofoten, a small " Phytozoon,'^ to which at first I paid no 

 great attention, as I took it to be a colony of Hydroids ; I 

 took, therefore, only a few specimens, and put them in spirit 

 with some other uncertain forms of animal life from the 

 same depth. After my return home, however, on examining 

 more closely this supposed hydroid colony, my father found 

 immediately that we had before us a very peculiar animal, 

 which quite certainly could not be a Hydroid, but seemed 

 rather to be related to the Polyzoa; although the shape and 

 appearance of the single cells had undeniably a great re- 

 semblance to the former, especially to some Campanularides. 

 As a satisfactory examination of the animal could not be 

 made with the specimens brought home in spirit, my father 

 urged me, the next time I visited Lofoten to examine the 

 animal in a living state as minutely as possible, as we should 

 without doubt obtain interesting and instructive results. 

 This I had an opportunity of doing in the following year 

 1867 ; and I then examined, as carefully as possible with the 

 instruments at my disposal, the structure of this fragile little 

 animal, which I found peculiar in the highest degree, and 

 different from all that I had previously known. My father 

 was greatly surprised on learning the result of my examina- 

 tion, and, looking over the numerous drawings which I had 

 made from the living animal, it was clear that we had before 

 us not ouly an entirely new genus and family, but even the 

 type of a still higher division ; and we found no small 

 difficulty in referring it to any known animal type. But as 

 it appeared most nearly related to the Polyzoa, my father 

 classed it with these, and noted it in his catalogue of deep- 



' Reprinted from ' The University Programme ' for the first half year, 

 1869. Cliristiania, 1872. 



