6 DENDROSOMA RADIANS. 



guishing feature of being full of gramiles, which are destined, no 

 doubt, to serve as food, until the j'ouug are able to feed themselves. 

 This egg differed fi-om the free embiyos in ha^'ing no cilia ; it was larger, 

 more oblong in form, and bore some resemblance to an exceedingly 

 minute statoblast of some freshwater Polyzoon, but its colour was very 

 different, being dirty-white, the same as that of the parent. It was 

 furnished with a comparatively rigid case or shell, and would, doubtless, 

 remain in a state of rest during the winter. When these develope in 

 spring or summer, they must necessarily appear as fi-ee ciliated organisms 

 for a time, until tliey find a suitable place to which to attach themselves, 

 and become stationary or approximately so. I say, approximately, 

 because I think they are able to change their position slightly without 

 detaching themselves. 



I have now only to point out that the study of this creature has fully 

 satisfied me tlaat it is a real species, its branched character giving it even 

 generic inaportance. It is not a developmental stage of something else, 

 being able to reproduce its kind in two distinct ways at least, and the 

 imperfect liistory here recorded goes entirely against the theory 

 propounded by Prof. Stein, and supported by Balbiani, that the Acinetae 

 are only a phase in the life cycle of various species of Infusoria. This 

 mistake appears to have arisen from the fact that these animals, being 

 pro'vided witli suctorial tentacles, are enabled to adhere to their prey, 

 and were regarded as a stage in the life-history of the creatui-e to which 

 they were attached, when they should have been looked upon rather in 

 the hght of parasites. 



Fig. 6 is a fine Dendrosoma much contracted, and entirely without 

 heads or tentacles. It contained what I believed to be three embryos, 

 but remained in a state of inactivity, showing no further change. Fig. 7 

 is probably a more advanced stage in the series 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D, but, 

 as I did not succeed in following it up to this point, I have merely 

 sketched it as seen. I ought also to mention that I have indicated the 

 commencement of the heads on the same creature as the one di'awn 

 with the testes, to save another figure, but they were really observed 

 on distinct individuals. The specimen with the spei'm cell had only 

 one well developed head, with its tentacles radiating in all directions. 



