124 AUTUMNS IN AKGYLESHIEE 



from a haddock's stomach near Scarborough, no 

 less than three should be tops, which is certainly 

 significant when we remember that only one speci- 

 men has ever been dredged perfect in respect of 

 that part. On the other hand, it must be remem- 

 bered that Darwin describes the specimens he 

 saw by hundreds at Bahia as truncated. 1 



With regard to the Funiculina, or sea-rope, 

 I will say very little, as I have only seen it once, 

 except in a museum. It is much longer, larger, 

 and more elastic than the other allied species ; 

 is often obtained perfect, and attains as great 

 a length as five feet. It has a curious square 



1 Note on the Virgularia mirabilis. Subsequently to the date 

 (August 1890) when the above article was written, I had many 

 better opportunities of studying the Virgularia. I dredged one 

 large specimen with the bulb intact which may now be seen in 

 a side case in the room at the British Museum in Cromwell 

 Eoad devoted to British zoology. It is very well preserved, and 

 will repay inspection, although it conveys no idea of the beauty of 

 a living specimen. I no longer have any doubt that all specimens 

 naturally exist with a bulb planted in the soft mud, as I have had 

 the opportunity of testing the fact by experiment. I dredged a 

 good many small specimens with the bulb intact (when two or three 

 inches long, they are much softer and less brittle than larger 

 specimens), and put them in a wide-mouthed pickle jar filled with 

 sea-water, and some of the muddy sediment which comes up in the 

 dredge with them when they are found. They soon fixed them- 

 selves upright in the mud, and throve so well in their environment 

 that I succeeded in keeping some of them alive for two months 

 under constant observation. When touched with a camel's-hair 

 brush they rapidly retracted themselves into the mud in the 

 manner described by Darwin ; sometimes disappearing altogether. 

 The calcareous stem hardens as they grow older, and becomes so 

 brittle as to fully account for the rarity of the bulb coming up in 

 the case of mature specimens. 



