805 



CELLARI^EA. 



CELLARIyEA. 



radiating from the centre, and separated by alternate rows of cells 

 supporting vibracular spines ; under surface usually with radiating 

 stria;, and the surface with minute perforations. 

 Recent species : 



L. capului, Busk ; ' Voyage of Rattlesnake.' 



L. ffibbosa, Busk ; 'Cat. Brit. Mus.' pi. 112. 



L. cance ttata, Busk ; pi. 113. 



Cupularia, Lamouroux. Folyzoarium circular, regular, convex 

 on the upper side and concave below; cells disposed quincun- 

 cially, each with a smaller vibracular ceil at its summit ; under 

 surface with radiating lines, grooves, or ridges, or divided into 

 sub-hexagonal areas; surface perforate or imperforate, smooth, or 

 granular. 



Recent species : 

 C. Gumeent'a, Busk ; 

 C. Owenii, Gray; 

 C. Lowei, Gray ; 

 C. ttdlata, Busk ; 



'Cat. Brit Mus.,' pi. 114. 

 pi. 115. 

 pL116. 

 pi. 118. 



Selenaria, Busk; 'Cat. Brit. Mus.' Polyzoarium circular, regular, 

 convex above, concave below ; cells disposed quincuncially, some 

 (closed in front by a cribriform calcareous plate) furnished with a 

 superior vibraculum. 

 Recent species : 



& maculata, Busk ; ' Voy. of Rattles. ; ' ' Cat. Brit. Mus.,' pi. 117. 

 Example, Lunulita radiata. Locality, Grignon, &c. 

 2. Eltctra. Animals unknown, contained in membranous vertical ; 

 bell-shaped cellules, ciliated en the edges, and shut by a diaphragmatic 

 membrane, with a very small and semilunar opening, and disposed in 

 a verticillate form around an ideal axis. 

 Example, Electro, rerticittata. 



Eltctra rtrticillata. a, natural size ; b, magnified. 



This is the Fliutra verticillala of Gmelin (Sertularia terticillala of 

 Esper) ; and this genus, which was separated by Lamouroux, 

 scarcely deserves, as Do Blninville remarks, to be distinguished from 

 Flutra piloga, whose cellules are occasionally somewhat verticillated ; 

 but in this he confounds two things perfectly distinct, though often 

 misconceived. 



3. flugtra. Cells contiguous ; on both aides of the frond. 



F] uilra foliacca. a, natural size ; I, some of the cells magnified. 



4. C'arbatea. Cells contiguous ; on one side only of the frond. 



Example, Fluftra carbtaen. Locality, seas of Scotland, Ac. 



Sir John Diilyi-11, in his intcnMting paper entitled ' Further Illus- 

 trations of the Propagation of Scottish Zoophytes' ('Edinburgh New 

 Philosophical Journal,' April-July, 1836), gives the following account 

 of the propagation of the Fltatra. Speaking of Alcyonium, he says, 

 " We find it consists of a com pact gelatinous or fleshy matter, studded 



with innumerable cells sunk in its substance, which are inhabited by 

 vivacious hydra:. Different species or varieties occur in the Scottish 

 seas, especially the gelatinositm, and a thin green flattened palmate 

 kind, which has perhaps escaped the notice of naturalists hitherto. 

 A white, opaque, ovoidal or nearly circular flattened corpusculum, 

 previously invisible, issues from the fleshy part of these products 

 whence it seems to be elicited, particularly by the influence of light. 

 On removal of a small specimen that had already afforded many from 

 a dark situation to a moderate degree of light, at least 150 quitted 

 their recesses within an hour. These beings are endowed with much 

 greater activity than the corpuscula of the Actinia; their courses are 

 alike diversified ; they swim through the water in all directions, regu- 

 larly and irregularly, ascending to the surface or descending to the 

 bottom, pursuing a straight line, describing an orbit, or tumbling 

 about among the neighbouring substances. Meanwhile, as if of soft 

 consistence, their form alters, and the action of the cilia environing the 

 body is alternately depressed and relaxed. At length, having become 

 stationary, a margin diffuses around the body, and supervening trans- 

 parence of the centre soon exposes an inanimate hydra within, which 

 in nine or eleven days is displayed perfect from its cell. The inner 

 surface of each tentaculum is now clothed by a double row of stout 

 dark cilia in rapid motion, but in opposite directions ; for as those of 

 one side strike upwards those of the other strike downwards. Further 

 diffusion of the basis adhering below forms additional compartments 

 for other hydrae. The propagation of the Flu&tra: carlasea, foliacea, 

 and tnmcata ensues after a similar fashion. A ciliated corpusculum, 

 spherical, ovoidal, or irregular, quits the leaf, pursues its course in the 

 water, becomes stationary, adheres, and a nascent Flustra, arises from 

 the spot. Above ten thousand such corpuscula have been produced 

 by a moderate-sized specimen of the Flustra foliacea, tinging the 

 bottom of a vessel yellow from their multitude, and vitiating the 

 water by their decay." 



The same author, in the ' Proceedings of the British Association ' 

 (Edinburgh, September, 1834), thus clearly and elaborately describes 

 the organisation of Fltutra carbatca : " The Flustra carbatea re- 



Fluttra carbatea. a, A Portion, natural size l>, a Portion magnified. 



sembles a leaf divided into subordinate parts, one of the surfaces 

 being studded with cells, and the other exhibiting elevations or con- 

 vexities corresponding to their bottom, and the whole product is of a 

 yellowish colour. Each cell, of a shuttle or slipper shape, level with 

 the surface of the leaf, is inhabited by a vivacious polypus, exercising 

 a percussive faculty both of the tentacula individually and of the 

 whole head. Some of the cells are occupied occasionally by large 

 bright yellow, irregularly globular, solid, ciliated animalcula, subse- 

 quently quitting them to swim heavily below. In several days they 

 become motionless like the former, and die also without immediate 

 decomposition. Next, there appears in just about the same spot 

 below, occupied by the motionless animalculum, a yellow nucleus with 

 a lighter diffusing margin. This in its further diffusion assumes a 

 shuttle or slipper form ; it becomes a single cell, which afterwards 

 displays a polypus under the wonted figure and action. The adult 

 Fluttra was vertical, for the leaf is always erect; but here the new 

 cell is horizontal. By a singular provision of nature, as only one side 

 of the adult is cellular, the original cell is necessarily a root, sole, or 

 foundation to admit subsequent enlargement, which in such zoophytes 

 is always from a single cell. One end of the cell next rises vertically, 

 wherein a second cell, with its polypus, is soon displayed overhanging 

 the first, and at right angles to the plane of its position." (See also 

 Professor Grant's ' Observations on the Polypes ' of this species in the 

 ' Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.') 



Example, Fluitra avicularit. Locality, European seas; Seaford 

 Bay, Sussex. 



This species however should be removed from the genus Fluttra 

 altogether, as its affinities are clearly with that of Bugula (Oken). 

 It is the B. (Avicularia) flabdlata, J. V. Thompson, 'Manuscript, 

 Brit. Mus.,' and its avicularia, or 'bird's-head' processes, from their 

 size and transparency, are well adapted for the investigation of the 

 structure of those curious organs. 



5. Elzcrina. Animals unknown, contained in sufficiently large oval 

 elongated subhcxagonal bordered cellules, having a membranous 

 tympanum or drum, in which is pierced the sigmoid opening, forming 

 by their quincuncial and circular arrangement the branches of ft 



