210 HYDROID.E. Part IV. 



connection of the straight base, with the coil of any lasso-cell, whilst closed, has 

 been observed. It was my good fortune, also, to discover this relation in simi- 

 larly constructed lasso-cells of Polypi (Actinia marginata), on the 1st of the following 

 August. More recently. May 27, 1860, I have made out, as I think satisfactorily, 

 that the coil of the old form, the anchored lasso-cell, of Coryne mirabilis, is all 

 on one side of the straight column (PI. XIX. Ficf. 6, / to d), and does not encircle 

 it, as is represented in the figure quoted here ; but the subject is so exceedingly 

 difficult, that I must make further investigations before speaking definitely. This 

 much, however, I will say, with certainty, that beside the three recurved barbels 

 I have observed several much more minute barbels, toward the mouth of the cell, 

 when the thread is out; and even these are to be detected in a closed cell." 



The Egg. — The medusa of Coryne mirabilis comes to maturity as early as the 

 middle of May, at which time the lower part of the proboscis is colored grayish 

 blue by the multitude of eggs which are imbedded between its outer and inner 

 walls. The largest eggs (PI. XVIII. Fig. 19) have a bluish, minutely granular 

 yolk [g) ; a hyaline Purkinjean vesicle (j)), and a single AVagnerian vesicle {to), 

 which contains a single large Valentinian vesicle [vl). In a little smaller egg 

 {Fig. 20), a quadrujile Valentinian vesicle (r/) was observed. In eggs half the 

 diameter of the last, the yolk is much more transparent {Fig. 22, g), and more 

 finely granulated ; but the Purkinjean vesicle {p) is much larger in proportion to 

 the whole egg; the Wagnerian vesicle {iv) a little smaller, and there is a single 

 Valentinian vesicle {vl) no larger than one of the four in the more advanced phase. 

 When two thirds of this size, the eggs have a dark, but homogeneous yolk {Fig. 2.3, 

 g), a much smaller Purkinjean {p) and Wagnerian vesicle (?<>), and no Valentinian 

 vesicle. The yolk {Fig. 24, g) of an egg, half the size of the last, is very nearly 

 clear, and perfectly homogeneous; the Purkinjean vesicle {})) contains a very small 

 Wagnerian vesicle [w), which, to all appearances, has not been long developed. In 

 one of the medusae which was developed late in the season, and remained attached 

 to the parent stem, an egg (which equalled in bulk, and in the size of its vesicles, 

 one of those next to the largest mentioned above, though different in shape from 

 it), contained very densely crowded, minutely granular, grayish yolk {Fig. 21, g), 

 a hyaline Purkinjean vesicle {p), a granulated Wagnerian vesicle («'), and a single 

 Valentinian vesicle {vl). In some other eggs of this size, taken from the same 

 animal, there were two, or even three, Valentinian vesicles. In fact, there is no 

 doubt that these eggs were just as normal, and as capable of developing young, 

 as those in the free Medusae. 



The Spermatic Particles. — In the male, the spermatic particles are situated, like 

 the eggs, between the outer and inner walls of the proboscis. They are very 

 small, and, like Cercariie in form (PI. XVIII. Fig. 25), and more closely resemble 



