186 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



clinging to the up-torn branches of Halidrys. It looks to 

 the naked eye but as some knotted thread ; yet even with a 

 pocket lens we find each knot to be a little pan pipe, with 

 from eight to twelve polype cells seated side by side on the 

 fine silken thread which runs on a little space, and again a 

 small pan pipe or family group makes what is called the Nit 

 on the coralline. 



FRESH-WATER ZOOPHYTES. 



POLYZOA. 



THESE objects, accessible wherever there is a quiet, sha- 

 dowy pond, or a sluggish canal, or a ditch semi-covered by 

 the road side, are worthy of close attention; indeed, the 

 development of the Statoblast or Gemmae of fresh-water 

 Polyzoa is too great a pleasure to pass unnoticed. 



STATOBLASTS. 



Small oval bodies, found floating on the water of ponds 

 and ditches all through the winter ; they may be mounted 

 dry, and are useful thus, enabling the" young student to 

 recognise them in the water. They have an oval brown 

 centre, and a lighter brown reticulated border, more or less 

 wide, according to the species. One variety is exceeding 

 beautiful the Statoblast of Cristatello mucedo which has 

 a scalloped edge and hooked spines of crystal, proceeding 

 in rays from the border, giving it a sun-like appearance. 

 These bodies are formed in the interior of the parent 

 zoophyte, growing like buds from the funiculus or small 

 cord which attaches the stomach to the endocyst or internal 

 coat of the tunic. They are not true eggs, yet they produce 

 perfect polypes, and are not expelled from the Polypidom, 

 but may be seen in long files within the horny tube of 

 Plumatella repens (the most abundant species), both during 

 the life and long after the death of the parent polype. 

 Probably the shelter is a needful protection against the 



