96 THE OCEAX WORLD. 



inch in diameter, according to Mr. Huxley (Fig. 27, Nodiluca mili- 

 aris). It was discovered by M. Surriray, in 1810, who describes it as 

 a spherical gelatinous mass, scarcely bigger than a pin's head, with a 



long filiform tentacular appendage, 

 a mouth, an oesophagus, one or many 

 stomachs, and branching ovaries 

 thus exhibiting a certain complexity 

 of organization. De Blainville took 

 the same view, and placed it among 

 the Diphydss. Yan Beneden and 

 Doyere, on the other hand, deny its 



F.g.27.' Nocdiucarniiiavis. relation to the Acdephv, conceiving 



Magnified. ft g organization to be much more 



simple : they place it with the Ekizopoda. Quatrefages adopts the 

 same view, denying the existence of a true mouth or intestinal 

 canal : he considers the so-called stomachs as simple " vacuales," simi- 

 lar to those observed in the Ehizopoda and Infusoria. Mr. Huxley, 

 describing it in the " Journal of Microscopical Science " (vol. iii.), 

 says it has nearly the form of a peach, a filiform tentacle, equal in 

 length to the diameter of the body, occupying the place where the 

 stalk of the peach might be, which depends from it, and exhibits slow 

 wavy motions when the creature is in full activity. " I have even 

 seen a noctiluca" he adds, " appear to push against obstacles with 

 this tentacle." 



"The body," he continues, "is composed of a structureless and 

 somewhat dense external membrane, which is continued on to the 

 tentacle. Beneath this is a layer of granules, or rather of gelatinous 

 membrane, through whose substance minute granules are scattered 

 without any very definite arrangement ; from hence arises a network 

 of very delicate fibrils, whose meshes are not more than one three- 

 hundredth part of an inch in diameter, which gradually pass internally 

 the reticulation becoming more and more open into coarser fibres, 

 taking a convergent direction towards the stomach and nucleus. All 

 these fibres and fibrils are covered with minute granules, which are 

 usually larger towards the centre." 



Mr. Huxley is inclined to think, from all he has observed, that the 

 animal has a definite alimentary cavity, and that this cavity has an 

 excretory aperture distinct from the mouth. 



