138 H1STOEY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



" I cannot perceive any permanent character by which 

 S. cupre&ina can at all times be distinguished from S. ar- 

 geniea, although typical specimens of each form bearing these 

 names appear considerably different from each other. Both 

 are found around the Irish coast, and together with many 

 other zoophytes constituted the most beautiful collection of 

 these objects I ever beheld, when gracefully depending from, 

 and interlacing, the spacious trawl-nets of the Howth fisher- 

 men, as they were hung up to dry on the decks of the fish- 

 ing-smacks. Of the numerous species then obtained, S. ar- 

 gentea and S. cupretrina were the most attractive, from their 

 graceful form and magnitude, some examples attaining to 

 nearly two feet in height." (W. Thompson.) 



When Sir J. G. Dalyell mentions one which was twenty- 

 seven inches in height, he speaks of it as the largest of our 

 Scottish zoophytes. This held true at the time he wrote, 

 but since that time a specimen of Pavonia quadrangulata 

 has been dredged near Oban no less than four feet in length. 



Genus VII. THUIAEIA, Fleming, 

 Gen. Char. Polypidom plant-like, rooted by a tubular fibre, 

 erect, dichotomously branched or pinnated : the cells sessile, 



