ACALEPH^. 



255 



by Mr. Milne Edwards. They inhabit the Gulf of Naples, and other 

 parts of the Mediterranean ; the sailors of Provence call them Sea- 

 cucumbers. The body (Fig. 103), cylindrical in form, is of a pale rose 

 colour, thickly studded 

 with small reddish spots, 

 so numerous as to appear 

 entirely punctured with 

 them. It presents eight 

 blue sides, with very fine 

 vibratile cilia, which by 

 their reflection produce all 

 the colours of the rain- 

 bow. The substance of the 

 body is gelatinous, its ap- 

 pearance glass-like ; its 

 form varies according as 

 the animal is in motion 

 or repose. Sometimes it 

 swells up like a ball; 

 sometimes it reverses it- 

 self, so as to resemble a 

 bell ; at others it is elon- 

 gated and cylindrical; at 

 its lower extremity it pre- 

 sents a large mouth ; at its 

 upper extremity is found 

 a small nipple, having at 

 its base a spherical point 

 of a reddish colour, enclosing many crystalloid corpuscles, which 

 rest upon a sort of nervous ganglion, whose physiological function is 

 not very well determined. A vast stomach, considering its size, 

 occupies the whole interior of the body of the Berb'e : the circulation 

 is also much developed in this zoophyte. The circulating apparatus 

 contains a moving fluid charged with a multitude of circular, colourless 

 globules, which flows from a vascular ring round the mouth towards 

 the summit of the body ; in the interior are eight superficial canals, 

 which flow under the ciliated sides, and redescend by two much deeper 

 canals; but the Beroes have no heart. Beroe ovata is a beautiful 



Fig. 103. Beros Forskahli (Edwards). 



