339 2 



MOSS ANIMALS AND LAMP SHELLS 



genus {Lepralia} are arranged in rows, and are further distinguished from Retepora 

 and other moss animals by the fact that the animals occur only on one 

 side of the stock. We mention these lace corals because of their being com- 

 paratively conspicuous; but we might have chosen any other of the many beautiful 

 but less conspicuous forms. On any seacoast a harvest of them can be gathered 

 in a few days. Certain species are almost always to be found on nearly every 

 leafy seaweed, and where the bottom of the sea is favorable, stones and the 

 shells of mollusks, both full and empty, are covered with stocks of Bryozoa, often 

 only discoverable by means of careful examination with a magnifying glass. 

 r^ ^ V"-..-=1 Owing to the 



hardening and 

 frequent calcifica- 

 |H tion of the greater 

 part of the body 

 wall to form the 

 cell into which 

 the anterior part 

 that always re- 

 mains soft can be 

 withdrawn, these 

 animals are often 

 found as fossils. 

 The marvelous 

 variety of forms 

 presented by these 

 delicate little 

 stocks is in each 

 case determined 

 by the particular 

 manner of bud- 

 ding. The first 

 animal which, by 

 budding, gives rise 

 to the stock is 

 produced from an 

 egg, and begins to 

 bud as soon as it 



has become attached. In each family or species the buds appear at special points, 

 and assume definite positions with regard to the parent individual. The smallest 

 variation in this respect causes the profoundest changes in the forms of the stocks 

 produced. Their classification is determined principally by the structure of the 

 mouth and of the tentacle crown, as may best be gathered from a few examples. 

 We take first the subclass Kctoprocta. 



Most of the fresh-water moss animals belong to the order Phylactolsemata, 

 so called because the mouth is provided with a tongue-shaped lid. The crown 



CORAL OR NEPTUNE'S SLEEVE, Retepora cellulosa. 

 (Natural size.) 



