4 6 



BY THE DEEP -SEA. 



beside the gullet, sexual organs within the sac, and the poly- 

 pide is fully described. 



The original founder of the colony was produced from an 

 egg, and was for a time a restless larva, swimming and creep- 

 ing and whirling around by the aid of cilia. Finally it settles 

 down on weed or stone, and becomes anchored ; drops its 

 cilia and develops its horny chamber and its crown of ten- 

 tacles. Having reached its full degree of growth, it buds at 

 the sides, and originates other creatures like itself. Just as 

 the solitary daisy root or chrysanthemum throws out what the 

 gardener terms suckers, and soon becomes the centre of a 

 clump of similar plants ; so the solitary Sea-mat soon becomes 

 only one in a symmetrically arranged colony, containing 

 hundreds of individuals, all produced by budding from the 

 original egg-produced polypide. 



Some of these colonies have a number of queer adjuncts, 

 which bear a startling likeness to the head of a bird of prey, 

 with moveable jaws, that are for ever snapping. These have, 

 of course, given rise to many theories to account for them ; 

 but it appears now to be generally accepted that the " bird's 

 head " is a specialised member cf the zoarium who serves 

 some purpose, prob- 

 ably of defence, or of 

 scavenging, that is of 

 advantage to the whole 

 colony. In some spec- 

 ies, this differentiation 

 of individuals takes 

 the form of a long 

 whip-like process, con- 

 stantly lashing, instead 

 of the snapping jaws. 

 The forms of the marine 

 polyzoa are very varied , 



but We shall be unable SEA-MAT (FLUSTRA). 



