FRESH-WATER POLYZOA. 223 



submerged stump with a cushion of living jelly, cling- 

 ing like crystalline globules to any projecting rootlet 

 or water -soaked object beneath the surface, even to 

 smooth stones. In bulk they may be like a boy's mar- 

 ble, or a cart-wheel, with every intermediate size. They 

 vary so much that to find a good comparison is not 

 easy, and it is only right to say, lest some lover of these 

 lovely creatures should be envious, that a colony the 

 size of a cart-wheel has, in the writer's locality, been 

 found but once, the foundation of this remarkable 

 growth probably being the rim of an old wheel. 



When the tubular or the jelly-like colonies are re- 

 moved to the collecting-bottle, they appear lifeless and 

 unattractive. The jelly may excite wonder by its size, 

 or curiosity to know what it can be, yet otherwise it 

 will not be noticeable. But wait a while. Place the 

 bottle in the shade and wait a few minutes ; then 

 with a pocket-lens look at the surface of the jelly or 

 the tips of the branching tubes. Treat them with 

 care; move them gently. The little creatures are 

 easily frightened, and like a flash leap back into their 

 protective case. Perhaps while you gaze at the reddish 

 jelly a pink little projection appears within the field of 

 your lens, and slowly lengthens and broadens, retreating 

 and reappearing it may be many times, but finally, after 

 much hesitation, it suddenly seems to burst into bloom. 

 A narrow body, so deeply red that it is often almost 

 crimson, lifts above the jelly a crescentic disk orna- 

 mented with two rows of long tentacles that seem as 



