248 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



has described, something we can call our own, and having 

 given it a Greek name, write with modest glory mihi after it, 

 instead of Linnaeus, Cuvier or Owen — is not that a pleasure 

 and a pride ? But you must be veiy circumspect, or you will 

 find, as I did, after long examination and some parental pride, 

 that some "plodding German" has been before you. One 

 day looking down upon a tuft of red sea-weed {Polysiphonid), 

 on which were clustered several specimens oiLagenella repens 

 (one of the Ciliobrachiate Polyzoa, so thoroughly investigated 

 by Dr Aithur Farre and Van Beneden),* I observed a quantity 

 of tiny cups in motion. On removing a bit of weed to the stage 

 of the microscope, I fancied these cups to belong to a new As- 

 cidian ; but many examinations gi^adually dispelled this notion, 

 and left me completely puzzled. I ransacked my books in the 

 vain effort of identification, and began to tliink the animal 

 before me was a novelty. This suspicion grew into a convic- 

 tion ; and, after bestowing a proper Greek name on it, I made 

 several preparations to show admiring friends. The animal 

 springs from a creeping stem, and stands about the tenth of 

 an inch in height, or less. Each individual is connected with 

 every other by this creeping stem, and consists of a vase- 

 shaped body, or cup, supported on a stalk. When the animal 

 is fully expanded, it unrolls the edge of its cup into a circle 

 of twelve or fourteen ciliated tentacles, curled doAvnwards like 

 the young fern-leaf, or like the handle of a Greek vase. 

 These tentacles are, as I said, cut out of the edge of the cup, 



* Farre : Observations on Vie Minute Structure of some of the higher forms 

 of Polypi. (Philosophical Transactions, Part II. for 1837.) 



Van Beneden : Ili^toire XatureUe des Polypes Composts d'eau douce. 1850. 



