Miscellaneous. 159 



Edwards, Nat. Hist, des Crustaces) — Leoneopenna Blainvillii of 

 Lesueur. The latter was 2\ inches long ; the head and three horn- 

 like processes were buried in the muscular mass on the right side of 

 the spinal column of the fish, and the whole of the exposed part 

 gave lodgment to a colony of little Cirripeds — ConcJioderma virgata, 

 Spengler, sp. (Darwin's Monograph of Cirripedia) ; these were of 

 various sizes, the largest measuring 9 lines in length. 



When first caught they were all living, and being placed in a basin 

 of sea-water, exhibited beautifully the characteristic motions of the 

 cirri ; while a circulation was also observed in the Lernead. 



The specimen was taken \\\ the Atlantic Ocean, about 5° 1 7' south 

 latitude, and brought home by Mr. Walter Crisp, Surgeon to the 

 ' Monarch,' East Indiaman. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On Electra verticillata, with a Notice of its different Forms of 

 Growth. By E. W. H. Holdsworth, F.L.S., F.Z.S. &c. 



The fact that but little attention has been given to a remarkable 

 variety of growth in Electra verticillata must be my apology for 

 bringing before this Society an animal that was first noticed more 

 than seventy years ago. Ellis described this species in 1786, under 

 the name of "■Flustra verticillata,''' or the "Basket-work Sea Mat," 

 from a specimen that he received from the Mediterranean ; and he was 

 followed by other naturalists, who retained the same title for it. In 

 1824 Lamouroux's translated work 'Corallina' was published in 

 England, from which it appears that, observing the branched poly- 

 pidoms and verticillate arrangement of the cells in this species, he 

 proposed a genus for its reception under the name of Electra ; and 

 in this he was supported by many subsequent writers, including 

 Risso, Cuvier, and Blainville, — the last-mentioned author, however, 

 stating that Electra could hardly be separated from Flustra. 



Its true position appears to be close to Membranijwra, but distinct 

 from it on account of the regular transversely linear arrangement 

 of the cells under all its varieties of growth ; this will especially 

 distinguish it from Flustra, and in a less degree from Memhranipora, 

 where the quincuncial disposition of the cells is not so uniformly ob- 

 served, and their arrangement is more frequently irregular. I am 

 inclined to consider Lamouroux's view of the case correct, aud shall 

 therefore retain the name that he proposed for the genus. 



Several naturalists have mentioned the occasional growth of 

 Electra in subcompressed linear fronds ; but the only published 

 figures of the species that I know — those of Ellis, Lamouroux, and 

 Blainville — are all taken from the cylindrical variety, which appears 

 to have been considered as typical. My own experience of Electra 

 rather points to this encrusting of slender branching sea-weeds as 

 exceptional, and the suberect ribbon-shaped fronds as being the most 

 common form. I have only observed the species in one locality 



