ANTHOZOA ASTEROIDA. 149 



gress of the groups of ova passing through the colourless bodies 

 of the polypi. To the naked eye at first sight all appeared 

 motionless. The deep vermilion hue of the small round ova, 

 and the colourless transparency of the outer covering of the 

 polypi, formed a beautiful contrast with the pure white colour 

 of the delicate longitudinal folds, the central open canal, and 

 the slender filaments which wind down from its sides towards 

 the clusters of white ova at the base ; but the living pheno- 

 mena discovered within were even more admirable than the 

 beautiful contrast of colours, the elegant forms, and the exqui- 

 site structure of all the parts. When observed with a lens, 

 the ova were seen to be in constant motion, and quite free 

 within the bodies of the polypi. They moved themselves 

 backwards and forwards, and frequently contracted their sides, 

 as if irritated or capable of feeling. I could observe none 

 passing upwards between the stomach and the sides of the 

 polypi. They never assumed the appearance of a string of 

 beads inclosed in a narrow shut curved tube, as represented 

 by Spix, but swam freely in the water which distended the 

 polypi, as figured by Ellis. Their motions in the polypi, 

 though circumscribed, were so incessant, that by watching at- 

 tentively I could observe them with the naked eye, and they 

 became more conspicuous as the ova advanced to the open 

 base of the stomach. From their restlessness, as they ap- 

 proached that last passage which separates them from the sea, 

 they seemed to feel the impulse of a new element, which they 

 were impatient to enjoy, and by following the direction of that 

 impulse they appeared to find their way into the lower open 

 extremity of the stomach, without any organic arrangement 

 to lead them into that narrow canal. In their passage through 

 the stomach, which was effected very slowly, the spontaneous 

 motions of the ova were arrested, unless some imperceptible 

 action of their cilise, or some contractions of their surface, 

 might tend to irritate the sides of that canal, and thus direct 

 or hasten their escape.''* 



* Professor Wagner thinks that " a disjunction of sex" in these polypes " admits 

 of demonstration." " One of my companions," he says, " Dr. Erdl,(?) of Munich, 

 found in Verctillum only females in one polypary, and in others only males. He 

 writes me that he has afresh convinced himself of the same relation in Alcyonium, 

 though the specimen had been preserved in spirit." Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 

 P . 71. 



