PROPAGATION OF LEPADES. 395 



state of these animals they not only possess perfect 

 freedom and power of motion, but organs of sight, 

 which furnish them with the means of choosing such 

 localities as are best suited to the respective habits 

 conferred upon them by Omnipotence, and limbs 

 calculated to anchor them to the chosen spot ; in fact, 

 that after leaving the eggs from which they are pro- 

 duced, they undergo a complete and wonderful meta- 

 morphosis, the phases of which are extremely remark- 

 able and interesting, and which, by collecting the 

 animals at the proper season, that is, during the earlier 

 spring months, the aquariist will have little difficulty 

 in studying for himself, and perhaps of solving some 

 of the mysteries with which this part of their history 

 is still overclouded. 



In the pedunculated races, the ova, after expulsion 

 from the ovarium, appear to be conveyed by the ovi- 

 positor into the cellular texture of the pedicle (just 

 beneath the shell-clad body), which they fill to the 

 distance of about an inch. When first placed in this 

 situation, they seem to be shapeless, and inseparable 

 from the pulpy substance in which they are imbedded ; 

 but as they approach to maturity, they become of an 

 oval figure, pointed at both ends, and are easily 

 detached. 



During the stay of the ova in the pedicle, they 

 lender this part more opaque and of a bluish tint ; 

 the eggs themselves, and the cellular texture with 

 which they are surrounded, being of a pale or azure- 

 blue colour. 



It is difficult to conceive in what manner the ova 

 are extricated from the situation above indicated, but 



