ANTIIOZOA. 69 



remark the miraernus non-pinnate tentacles (t), the eavilies of whirh 

 eommunieate witli the general cavity (/), which is divided \ut*f 

 compartments by septa (m), on the walls of which tin- ironads (if) art- 

 developed. The axis is occupied by the stomach (>), which eum- 

 munieates below with the general cavity, and opens above Ity a mouth 

 marked by a special slit (od) ; p marks the point at which a chamlier 

 is in communication with its neighbour, and il is the lower surface of 

 the disk. The specimens and explanatory labels in Case XII In may 

 be found of assistance in understanding the structure of comls. 



As it is impossible to preserve in alcohol the beauty of form and 

 colouring presented by Sea-Anemones, the aid of the artist lias been 

 called in, and sketches from life are shown on the walls. 



As in the Zoantharia, there may be no spicules, a horny skelet<jn, 

 or a continuous calcareous skeleton ; Init spicules .scattered in the 

 flesh are not known. 



Of the soft-bodied forms other than the well-known Sea-Anemone 

 of the shore, attention should be directed to the remarkable Ori- 

 anthiis memhi(ii>arr'i(>: (Fig. s\ which makes for itself a curious woven 

 tube, open at either end. The effect of this is that, during a 

 dredging operation, the Oeriant/ius generally succeeds in making his 

 escape, and a mere empty tube is all that rewai'ds the dredger. 



The Antipatharia have a purely horny skeleton, which encl<»>es a 

 central canal and is always spiny. This skeleton may be a single 

 rod, as in Cirripathos, where it may attain a great height, or consist 

 of a collection of straigiit rods, as in the remarkable forms from 

 Mauritius, which has been called Antipat/ies rohillanU ; or it 

 may be more or less branched and form tufts or wide plates, sus in 

 A2)hanipathes, or the branches may fuse with one another, as in 

 Arachnopathes, an elegant example of which will be found l>y itself 

 on the wall near the middle doors. The most connnon form is the 

 tree-like .1. abies (Fig. I))- 



According to the recent researches of Dr. Carlgren, the large 

 black coral-like structure which forms such a cnspicuous objwt 

 opposite the eastern door to this Oallery, and which is known as 

 Gerardia savaUa (Fig. 1<>), has been wrongly regard.d as an Anti- 

 patharian or horny coral. It is, according n» the Swedish naturalist, 

 allied by the structure of its polype to J'aruzoanlhiiK, and niust 

 therefore be placed with the otherwise soft-bodied Xoan(/i(tn<i. Tlu- 

 specimen here exhibited, wiili a suiiablr explanatory label, is sur- 

 prisingly large, and nothing like it is possessed byanvt.th.r Museum 

 of Natural History. 



