THE VESTLET. 



269 



Mouth. A transverse slit; lip minutely furrowed, not projecting. 



Investing Tube. Cylindrical, much wider than the animal, which is 

 loosely invested by it without attachment in any part, papery or felty in 

 texture, thick and soft, 

 composed of many layers, 

 the outer of which pre- 

 sent ragged foliations. 

 The tube can easily be 

 detached, when the ani- 

 mal immediately begins 

 to form a new one, by 

 throwing off the material 

 from the entire surface 

 of the column ; this at 

 first is adhesive, tena- 

 cious, and very tough, 

 pellucid, but gradually 

 becomes milky, and finally 

 opaque, entangling mud 

 and sand in its substance- 

 It is wholly composed of 

 cnidce, the discharged 

 ecthorcea of which, in in- 

 calculable numbers and 

 of great leDgth, inter- 

 twine and form a sort of 

 felt. 



Colour. 



Column. Pale buff or 

 whitish, gradually becom- 

 ing rich chestnut brown 

 at the summit. 



Disk. Pellucid white. 



Tentacles. First series 

 maronne or chocolate-brown at the foot, above which pellucid whitish, with 

 chestnut bands. Second series dark maronne. 



CERIASTHrS 



without its tube. 



Size. 



Length seven inches, under strong irritation contracting to two ; general 

 diameter of column one-fourth of an inch ; of disk half an inch ; expanse 

 of flower one inch and a half. 



