28 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 



PART II. 



PENNATULA PHOSPHOEEA. 



LlNN^US. 



Of this species two living specimens were obtained, of 5^ and 4J 

 inches' len'^th respectively. They were both found in the same locality 

 (Station I. of the General Report of the Dredging Excursion), two 

 miles N.W. of Oban, and about a mile from the shore, in twenty 

 fathoms water, one being brought up by the tangle and the other 

 inside the dredge-net. A third, smaller, specimen obtained from the 

 same locality was not preserved. 



The two specimens prove on examination to be of different sexes, a 

 rare piece of good fortune, which has enabled us to make our report 

 far more complete than could otherwise have been the case, and 

 also to give an account of the structure and develo^Jment of the male 

 reproductive organs of Pennntula, of which no satisfactory description 

 has hitherto appeared. 



In order to investigate the anatomical structure a pair of leaves with 

 the corresponding part of the rachis were removed from the male speci- 

 men, the less perfect of the two, and of these sections were made in 

 various planes. The knowledge obtained in this way, which was still 

 deficient in many important points, we have supplemented by an exami- 

 nation of specimens of Pciinatula pliosphorea in the Owens College 

 museum, originally obtained from Naples, and in this way have been 

 enabled to prepare a fairly complete account of the anatomy of 

 Pennatula. Concerning the histology we have been less successful 

 owing to the imperfect preservation of the specimens. 



As in the case of FunicuUna, we have given special attention to the 

 figures on Plate III., all of which have either been drawn dii-ectly from 

 the objects themselves, or else constructed from camera drawings of 

 the several parts shown. 



General Account. 

 The general appearance of Pennatula phospliorea is shown in Figs. 1 

 and 2, the former figure representing the dorsal and the latter the 

 opposite or ventral surface, both figures being drawn from the 

 female specimen. 



As in FunicuUna there is a cylindrical axial portion, of which the 

 lower 2-5ths, forming the stalk (Figs. 1 and 2 b), are bare and in the 

 living animal probably planted in the sea-bottom, while the upper 

 .3-5ths, or rachis (Fig. 2 a), support the polypes. 



