Miscellaneous. 503 



ramified, united to each other by their ramifications, and filled with 

 granular contents, with nucleus and nucleolus. They are arranged 

 in a laj'er, and rest immediately upon the outer surface of the elastic 

 membrane. In some cases I have been able to convince myself 

 that their ramifications, which, beyond all doubt, are nervous, are 

 continued into strongly refractive fibrilke. Their form, their whole 

 habit, their position beneath a layer of ectoderm rich in cells fur- 

 nished with long filaments directed towards the elastic membrane, 

 and, lastly, the fibrillar in which their ramifications sometimes ter- 

 minate, leave no room to .doubt that they are nervous ganglia in 

 which the numerous fibrillae of the different ectodermic cells termi- 

 nate. This supposition is rendered the more probable by analogous 

 facts observed in the Actinia? and the Medusae. 



Entoderm. — The entoderm is almost exclusively composed of very 

 typical epithelio-muscular cells. The epithelial cell is not so 

 strongly elongated as in the ectoderm ; it is broader and shorter, 

 with the base much dilated, and furnished at the extremity with 

 a single cilium. The muscular fibril is very refractive, fusi- 

 form, nearly three times as long as the cell itself. Besides these 

 elements we also find glandular cells not differing essentially from 

 those already described. These unicellular glands are met with 

 in great numbers, especially upon the parts of mesembryenthal par- 

 titions nearest the stomach, as well as on the mesembryenthal fila- 

 ments. 



Besides Astroides, I may cite Sar/artia parasitica and Medusa 

 cequorea as having shown me epithelio-muscular elements in very 

 great numbers in the entoderm. As to the presence of a single 

 cilium at the extremity of the ectodermic cells, this is not a cha- 

 racter peculiar to Astroides, but appears to be very common in the 

 Coralliaria ; I have ascertained its occurrence, for example,' 'in 

 Parahyonium eleyans, Is is, Caryophyllia, Anthea cereus, and Sa- 

 gartia parasitica. 



Mesembryenthal filaments. — The surface of the stomach is not 

 smooth, but covered with longitudinal elevations, each of which 

 corresponds to the place where a partition is united with the 

 stomach. These protuberances are very rich in glandular cells, and 

 it is only in them that the stomach presents such cells. At the 

 extremity of the stomach the protuberances form the free edges of 

 the mesembryenthal partitions ; there is therefore an uninterrupted 

 continuity of these longitudinal protuberances at the surface of the 

 stomach with the mesembryenthal filaments ; and this fact explains 

 the complete unity iu the structure of these two organs, and enables 

 us to assert that they can only act as stomach, that is to say, as 

 organ of digestion. The filaments are solid and have no cavity in 

 the interior ; they have in the centre a mesodermic trunk formed 

 by elastic membrane, which unites with that of the partitions. I 

 have been able to demonstrate the absence of any canal passing 

 through the partitions and uniting the chambers formed by them. 



The organs of generation and the development of this coral will 

 constitute the subject of an early communication. — Comptes Renclus, 

 May 3, 1880, p. 1086. 



