510 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



are very liable to become torn off, and are then 

 found to be long, round, pointed organs, extremely 

 tenacious of life, contracting, extending, and appa- 

 rently endeavouring to search for something lost, 

 during a considerable period after their detachment. 



Whether it be in accordance with the necessities 

 resulting from such a disposition, or that the race is 

 peculiarly exposed to mutilation, the deficient organs 

 thus rudely sacrificed are speedily restored. Soon 

 after the capture of several specimens, one of them 

 was found to have lost a tentaculum by the root, and 

 another was mutilated in a similar manner ; in both 

 cases reparation was speedily effected, the missing 

 organ being reconstructed in the course of a fort- 

 night. Another specimen lost the whole right ten- 

 tacle by the root, on the 25th of September, and on 

 the 28th lost likewise one of its cornicula, evidently 

 two very important organs. How this loss had been 

 incurred was unknown ; but the mutual animosity 

 displayed between the creature and a companion in 

 the same vessel, as evidenced by the bristling up of 

 their branchiae, and biting each other whenever they 

 met, led to conjecture that it was by violence. In 

 the course of a month both of the missing organs 

 were nearly restored to their pristine condition. 



Some species of Eolis feed on the Tubularia indivisa 

 and on the Tubularia poly ceps, infesting those zoo- 

 phytes in numerous colonies. 



Their spawn is produced as an irregular, ovoidal, 

 albuminous mass, containing 300 or 400 eggs. It 

 appears at various seasons, summer or winter, June 

 or December ; but the chief breeding-time is perhaps 



