6 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 



3. — The Pohjpes and Zooich. — 



As among Pennatulida generally* the individual animals com- 

 posing the colony are of two kinds, distinguished as pob/pe-s and zooids : 

 the polypes (Figs. 3 and 4, d) being distinguished by their greater size, 

 and by possessing tentacles and reproductive organs, while the zooids, 

 (Figs. 3 and -1 c), are smaller, and have ueitlier tentacles nor reproductive 

 organs. 



In Funiculina, the zooids form an irregular row on the mid-dorsal 

 surface (Figs. 3 and 4), on either side of which the polypes are placed; 

 but the distinction between polypes and zooids is far less marked than 

 in the majority of Pennatulida, and it is very doubtful whether any 

 sharp line can be drawn between the two forms. In young specimens 

 especially the transition is a perfectly gradual one, and a complete 

 series of intermediate forms can be obtained between the largest 

 polypes and the smallest zooids. 



Confining the term zooid to the small individuals destitute of 

 tentacles, the arrangement of the polypes and zooids on the rachis is as 

 follows: — At the lower end of the rachis there are no polypes at 

 all, and merely a single longitudinal row of small zooids, situated 

 along the ventro-lateral angle of the quadrangular rachis. Passing 

 upwards, the zooids increase in both size and number, and pass 

 obliquelj' across the side of the rachis to the dorso-lateral angle, which 

 they reach about 2 ins. above its commencement. Above this point 

 they gradually shift on to the dorsal surface, where they form an 

 interrupted and irregular longitudinal median row from three to five 

 zooids w'ide, extending to the extreme top of the rachis. 



The first polypes are found about 2 ins. above the commencement of 

 the rachis, and on the middle of the lateral surfaces. They lie on the 

 ventral side of the zooid rows, and are at first in a single row on either side, 

 and at rather wide intervals apart. About an inch higher up the rows 

 become double, and beyond this point the polypes increase rapidly in 

 number and size. For a short distance they are clearly arranged in 

 oblique rows, ascending from the ventral side below to the dorsal side 

 above ; but along the greater part of the rachis they are clustered so 

 closely together that it isdilficulttomake out any definite arrangement 

 in rows, though a closer examination shows, as Kolliker has already 

 pointed out,t that they are really arranged in ill-defined, somewhat 

 triangular groups, the apices of the triangles bemg situated on the 

 ventro-lateral angles of the rachis and about ^ in. apart, while the 

 bases are on the dorsal surface in contact wath the median zooid tract. 



The polypes cover the whole of the lateral surfaces of the rachis 

 and the marginal portion of the dorsal surface, but do not extend on 

 to the ventral face (Figs. 3, 4, 5). Throughout the whole length of 

 the rachis the polypes on the dorsal surface are the smallest, those on 

 the lateral surfaces gradually increase in size, and those along the 



♦ Kolliker, op. cit., p. 6. f Op. cit., p. 257. 



