VIRGULAKIA MIRABILIS. 78 



one to which the Oban specimens are to be referred is the typical 

 species of the genus, I'. )iiiriihilis, the definition of vvhicli is as follows : — 



]'. tnimbili.^.* "Whole colony up to fourteen inches in length; 

 feather two and a lialf to three times the length of the stalk ; leaves 

 half-moon shaped, smooth, placed laterally but slightly obliquely, the 

 ventral border being higher than the dorsal, overlapping one another 

 only slightly or not at all, attached by wide bases. Polypes six to 

 nine in each leaf, their cavities distinctly separated from one another. 

 Zooids lateral, in one or two rows. Reproductive organs only developed 

 in the lowermost leaves. Radial canals well developed along the whole 

 length of the rachis." 



The species is a common but very variable one, different specimens 

 differing gi"eatly from one another in the pitch of the leaves — i.e., their 

 distance apart — -in the shape of the leaves, and in their breadth of 

 attachment to the rachis. In these points the seven Oban specimens 

 present a good deal of variety among themselves. 



7.— Habits— 



1. The Natural Position of Virgularia. We have already, when 

 speaking of FunicuUna and Pennatula, referred in anticipation to 

 Virgularia as affording positive proof of the erect position being the 

 natural one. It is apparently a very simple point to determine ; and 

 yet, so far as we can find out, only two, or at most three, observers 

 have recorded from actual observation the fact that Virgularia does 

 live planted erect in the sea bottom. 



Rumphf in his work, to which we have already alluded, describes 

 both V. Ilumphii and T'. juncea as living erect with the stalk planted 

 in the mud and the rachis projecting up into the water. He speaks of 

 having pulled out hundreds, so that there can be no possibility of 

 mistake. 



Darwin, in his " Naturalist's Voyage Round the World," also gives 

 us direct evidence on the point from observations made at Bahia 

 Blanca, on the south-east coast of South America, in lat. 39° S. He 

 says :\ — " I will only mention one other animal, a zoophyte (I believe 

 Vii gularia Patagonica § ;, a kind of sea-pen. It consists of a thin, straight, 

 fleshy stem with alternate rows of polypi on each side, and surround- 

 ing an elastic stony axis, varying in length from eight inches to two 

 feet. The stem at one extremity is truncate, but the other is termi- 

 nated by a vermiform fleshy appendage. The stony axis which gives 

 strength to the stem may be traced at this extremity into a mere 

 vessel filled with granular matter. At low water hundreds of these 

 zoophytes might be seen projecting like stubble, with the truncate end 

 upwards, a few inches above the surface of the muddy sand. When 



* Kolliker's " Alcyonarien,'' p. 190. 



+ Kumph. " T'Aniboin 'sche Rariteitkamer," p. 64, 1741. 

 I Darwiu : "Naturahst's Voyage round the World," p. 99, 1845. 

 § Shice renamed by Knlliker Sti/Iatiila Darwinii Vide " Kulliker : Alcyo- 

 uarieu, p. :2-27. 



