202 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [chap. ix. 



forwards at the rate of about five seconds each turn ; others 

 moved rapidly and by starts. When touched with a needle, the 

 beak generally seized the point so firmly, that the whole branch 

 might be shaken. 



These bodies have no relation whatever with the production of 

 the eggs or gemmules, as they are formed before the young polypi 

 appear in the cells at the end of the growing branches ; as they 

 move independently of the polypi, and do not appear to be in any 

 way connected with them ; and as they differ in size on the outer 

 and inner rows of cells, I have little doubt, that in their functions, 

 they are related rather to the horny axis of the branches than to the 

 polypi in the cells. The fleshy appendage at the lower extremity 

 of the sea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms part of the 

 zoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots of a tree 

 form part of the whole tree, and not of the individual leaf or 

 flower-buds. 



In another elegant little coralline (Crisia?), each cell was fur- 

 nished with a long-toothed bristle, which had the power of moving 

 quickly. Each of these bristles and each of the vulture-like 

 heads generally moved quite independently of the others, but 

 sometimes all on both sides of a branch, sometimes only those on 

 one side, moved together coinstantaneously ; sometimes each 

 moved in regular order one after another. In these actions we 

 apparently behold as perfect a transmission of will in the zoo- 

 phyte, though composed of thousands of distinct polypi, as in 

 any single animal. The case, indeed, is not different from that 

 of the sea-pens, which, when touched, drew themselves into the 

 sand on the coast of Bahia Blanca. I will state one other in- 

 stance of uniform action, though of a very different nature, in a 

 zoophyte closely allied to Clytia, and therefore very simply or- 

 ganized. Having kept a large tuft of it in a basin of salt-water, 

 when it was dark I found that as often as I rubbed any part of a 

 branch, the whole became strongly phosphorescent with a green 

 light: I do not think I ever saw any object more beautifully so. 

 But the remarkable circumstance was, that the flashes of light 

 always proceeded up the branches, from the base towards the 

 extremities. 



The examination of these compound animals was always very 

 What can be more remarkable than to see a 



