354 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



that this might be the case, both to Dr. Fleming and Dr. 

 Johnston, before I knew that the same suspicion had been 

 entertained by persons of higher name. My attention has 

 thus been directed to the subject for several years ; and the 

 result is, that I am now disposed to think that it is a dis- 

 tinct species. It is exceedingly common with us ; and L. 

 nitida, to which it bears the greatest resemblance, is, on the 

 west coast, exceedingly rare. When richly studded with 

 its pearly operculums, it makes some approach to L. ciliata 

 when rich with opercula as the var. insignis (not rare with 

 us) very frequently is ; but the form of the cells is quite dif- 

 ferent ; and towards L. annulata it makes not the slightest 

 approximation. 



11. FLUSTRA DISTANS, HassalL 

 Hab. On aquatic plants in brackish water. 

 Considerably more than a year ago, specimens of this 

 curious zoophyte were sent to me by Mr. Wigham, of Nor- 

 wich, who stated that he had gathered it in abundance 

 at Yarmouth, in ditches of brackish water, about a mile 

 distant from the sea, and having no direct connection with 

 it. It grew, he said, on the stems of aquatic plants. It 

 was quite new to me, and I was advised to send it to Pro- 

 fessor Allman, of Trinity College, Dublin, who is preparing 



