228 THE MICROSCOPE. 



bent and tubular orifices, free ; while the Crisia aculeata has cells 

 closely aggregated, cylindrical, nearly straight, with long slender spines 

 springing from the margin of every cell, giving it a delicate and pretty 

 appearance. 



EUCRATIAD^E. 



Of the family Eucratiados, we have to notice a specimen of great 

 interest, the Anguinaria, from the Latin anguis, a snake. This is now 

 classed with the Bryozoa, but from its external form, and resemblance 

 to the Hydra-form zoophytes, we prefer to retain and describe it where 

 it was originally placed. An account of the Anguinaria spatulata, or 

 Snake-head Coralline, appeared in the Transactions of the Microscopical 

 Society, by Mr. Busk, who corrects many errors before existing re- 

 specting this zoophyte. This polyp is parasitical upon fuci, and is not 

 unfrequently associated with other kinds on the same plants, as in fig. 

 107, No. 2; it is there associated with Campanularia Integra. The 

 A. spatulata "as a whole, consists, like all its congeners, of two dis- 

 tinct portions, one usually termed the radical, and another which con- 

 stitutes the proper polyp-cells. In the present instance, the arrange- 

 ment of these parts is in some respects very peculiar and curious ; but 

 it will be found upon strict examination to accord accurately with the 

 universal type. The origin, or base, as it may termed, of the zoophyte, 

 is a more or less rounded disk of small size, probably divided into com- 

 partments, as in the Notamia, from each of which arises a primary 

 radical branch, in this species very short; these primary radical 

 branches or tubes are directly continued into a polyp-cell; but the 

 cavities of the tube and cell are not continuous, being separated by a 

 distinct dissepiment, so that the coarsely-granular contents of the 

 radical tube have no communication with the polyp-cell. The growth 

 of the polyp-cell appears to precede in some degree that of the radical 

 tube continuous from it ; and the development of these two parts seems 

 to be carried on in the usual way, viz. first, in the appearance of a 

 rounded bud filled with granular matter, which gradually increases in 

 length, and the contents of which are finally moulded or resolved into 

 the proper contents of the cell, of which the bud constitutes the origin. 

 In some cases, more than one bud of a radical tube arises at the angle 

 of the polyp-cell ; and in this way arise the apparent branches of the 

 creeping- stem. The walls of the radical tubes and of the polyp-cells 

 consist of a thin transparent horny material, which is insoluble in weak 

 acids, and strengthened or rendered rigid, except in one part, by the 

 deposit of calcareous matter. In the radical tubes, and on the dorsal 



