Miscellaneous. 395 



the same as P. barbata ; but I think this is doubtful, as Lepechin 

 described the fur as dirty-white, sometimes with a yellow tinge 

 without any spots, and the hair as erect, with abundance of under 

 wool. The African Seal has very short, broad, closely adpressed 

 hair, while Lepechin expressly states that the hair of P. leporina is not 

 appressed, but erect, and is at once known from Phoca barbata by 

 the large size of the grinders, which are very close together, and the 

 last one very peculiarly placed across the line of the other teeth. — 

 J. E. Gray. 



Notes on the Development of the Actiniee. By M. Haime. 



I have verified the separation of the sexes in the Actiniee. Each 

 capsule of the ovary contains only a single ovule, biit each testicle 

 contains several hundred thousand spermatozoa. In the species 

 examined by me (A. equina, L., effoeta, L., sulcata, Penn., peduncu- 

 lata, Penn., and coriacea, Cuv.), these always had a bilobed head 

 and a very long filament. 



Actinia pedunculata usually has the sexes completely separated 

 as in the other species, but, in some cases, a few spermatic capsules 

 occur in the midst of an ovigerous gland and vice versa. 



The ovules are sometimes uniform in size, sometimes of different 

 sizes, which appears to indicate that several successive layings must 

 take place, and in fact it is not uncommon to find young animals 

 already furnished with twenty-four or even forty-eight tentacles in the 

 visceral cavities of females containing at the same time ovules of very 

 small size (A. equina and pedunculata). The only difference, except 

 size, between the smaller and larger ovules consists in the smaller 

 proportionate size of the Purkinjian vesicle in the latter. Two or 

 three germinal spots are often to be seen. I have observed no ova in 

 process of segmentation. 



The ciliated larva is at first spherical, and no depression or projec- 

 tion is to be observed on its surface ; it soon elongates a little and 

 presents a conical extremity. The other extremity becomes hollowed 

 in the centre, forming the rudiment of the mouth. The cavity 

 formed at this point enlarges by degrees by the removal of the internal 

 substance, and the visceral chamber is rapidly formed. The integu- 

 ments already form a distinct layer at the surface of the body, which 

 contains thread-capsules, globules and vibratile cells almost exactly 

 similar to those which occur in the adult. In the general cavity of 

 some species (A. pedunculata for instance) there are also some large 

 coloured globules, which vibrate and gyrate. 



Before any tentacular mammillae make their appearance, narrow 

 bundles of muscular fibres are formed in the direction of the length of 

 the body. These are the rudiments of the muscular system, and 

 correspond with the vertical plates which are to divide the visceral 

 cavity. Their initial number is normally six in A. equina, and pro- 

 bably also in all the species of the group ; but I found it impossible 

 to ascertain whether it is the same in A. pedunculata, or whether it is 

 only four ; it is certain, however, that it soon rises to eight in this 

 polype, and that it afterwards becomes a multiple of six. 



