152 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



was I yet satisfied ; placing a tiny Crustacean, of the shrimp 

 family, among the filaments of another Dianthus, I saw it 

 remain there enveloped, but apparently quite comfoi-table, 

 not in the least so desirous of escaping as one would expect 

 if it were being " nettled " all over ; and when I lurched the 

 jar it swam away. 



I have since repeated this experiment with Entomostraca 

 and Annelids, without once detecting the slightest indication 

 of theii- being more incommoded by the filaments than they 

 would have been by threads of silk. Mr Gosse, indeed, not 

 only maintains that these filaments are weapons of offence, 

 but he actually suggests that the blue spherules which sur- 

 round the disc of the ]\Iesembryanthemum may " represent 

 the function of these missile filaments" because they are 

 composed of the thread capsules. 



I re^Jeat, the hypothesis which assigns to the thread-cap- 

 sules a function of urtication, or prehension, is an hyi^othesis 

 without a single fact to warrant it, and is contradicted by 

 the various facts I have just adduced. Elirenberg has very 

 unwarrantably given an ideal figure of a Hydra in the act of 

 seizing its prey, with the hooks of the thread-cell extended ; 

 but, as Siebold truly remarks, the animal is never seen thus ; 

 and I will add that it is always seen in precisely the contrary/ 

 aspect, namely, the blunt end of the cell being in contact 

 with the animal, the hook and thread being turned towai'ds 

 the Polype. 



I have reserved one fact as the coup-de-grace. Having 

 shown that the parts most abundantly supplied with these 

 " urticating cells " do not urticato, I can now remove the 



