COLLECTION OF POLYPI. 



tune's ruffles, several varieties of which were 

 brought home by Peron and Lesueur. 



Amongst the vaginifbrmes are the polyphysa 

 australis, the sertularice procured by the same 

 travellers from New Holland, and the acetabutum 

 marinwn, Tournef., very remarkable on account 

 of its form, which is that of a funnel supported 

 by a long and thread-like pedicle, round which 

 many young polypi shooting give it the appear- 

 ance of a cluster of mushrooms. 



Among the rarest and most curious species in 

 the lower part of the chests we shall cite, of 

 the incrustati, the alcyonium cidaris from the 

 Mediterranean ; the a. cuspidiferum, which re- 

 sembles an assemblage of stalactites ; the a. ar- 

 bor ewn from the Indian seas ; the a. vesparium 

 from the same latitudes, whose form is that of a 

 wasp's nest; a specimen of it, sawn length ways, 

 shews its interior structure ; the tethia asbestella, 

 procured by Bougainville, at the entrance of the 

 Rio de la Plata, and several specie of sponge, such 

 as the penicillata,flabelliformis, perfoliata, pella, 

 calix, and mesenterica, brought from the South 

 seas by Peron and Lesueur ; the spongia basta 

 from the Indian seas, the s. lacunosa and bur- 

 sarla; and the licheniformis which includes a 

 great number of varieties : of the corticati, the 

 gorgonia pinnata, the g. laxispina from the Ame- 



