MOSS ANIMALS 



3391 



being by means of a single short strand at the end of the stomach called the funic- 

 ulus, and shown in the illustration. In all adults, two masses of cells are found 

 attached to the wall of the chamber, the upper (<?) yielding eggs, while within the 

 lower (/) the male elements develop. Moss animals are therefore hermaphrodite, 

 the fertilization of the eggs being effected by the two elements mingling freely 

 together in the body fluid. In all essential 

 points, the description given would apply 

 to any one of the seventeen hundred species, 

 fossil and extant, which are known. 



Among the larger colonies may be 

 mentioned certain fresh-water genera, found 

 attached to the roots and branches of water 

 plants, which may form considerable 

 masses; but these stocks are dull in color 

 and very inconspicuous, the beauty of the 

 minute individual animals themselves being 

 invisible to the naked eye. Some fairly- 

 sized forms occur also among the marine 

 genera, which are often marked by the 

 great variety and beauty of their stocks. 

 Many of these are delicate branching 'or 

 tree-like growths some inches in height; 

 take, for instance, the sea mats (Flustra), 

 or again, the still larger and more beautiful 

 lace corals, Neptune's sleeves, such as are 

 shown on p. 3392, which, in spite of their 

 name, are not true corals but bryozoans. 

 The figured lace coral (Retepora) is found 

 in the nets used on the shores of the Atlantic 

 Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. When 

 fresh, the stocks which resemble a fine, 

 cup-shaped, or folded and frilled piece of 

 lace seem to be covered by a reddish or- 

 ganic mass, out of which arise the delicate 

 tentacular crowns of the individual animals. 

 These are, however, too small to be seen, 

 except with a magnifying glass. When the 

 soft parts are removed, the stock is of 

 dazzling whiteness, consisting chiefly of the chalky substance which binds the 

 separate individuals together into a colony. Between the open meshes of the lace- 

 work, multitudes of minute apertures are to be seen, which are the openings of the 

 individual chambers or cells containing the bodies of the animals, and into which 

 they can withdraw their tentacular crown as above explained. Another lace coral 

 from the Mediterranean is shown on p. 3393. It rests upon a branched structure, 

 a common calcareous alga which grows on a stone. The individuals of this 



SECTION OP AN INDIVIDUAL OF Pdludicelld . 

 (Highly magnified.) 



