io8 GALEOLARIA LUTE A. PART in. 



organs are developed towards its posterior end. Buds 

 then appear upon the hollow stems of the polypites to- 

 wards the posterior end of the body. But as the Galeo- 

 laria is dioecious, male and female buds are never on 

 the same individual. The female buds become medusi- 

 form zooids, like those of the Praya diphys, only the 

 transparent cup, with which it swims away from its 

 parent, has two projections like ears on its rim. 



The development of the buds in the male Galeolaria 

 is similar. At first they are pale, but they assume an 

 orange red colour as they advance towards maturity, 

 and, when complete, the sac which hangs down from the 

 centre of the transparent cup becomes of a brilliant 

 vermilion. These male and female medusa-zooids swim 

 about for several days, and the fertilized eggs are 

 hatched into young Galeolarise, male and female. 



Thus the Galeolaria lutea has two kinds of polypites, 

 both nutritive, but one is sterile, the other prolific. The 

 latter are similar to the prolific individuals of the syn- 

 corine Hydrae, in which the anterior part is a digestive 

 organ, while on the base or stalk true medusa-zooids are 

 found. It is curious that the spathe-protecting plate of 

 the Galeolaria appears in the egg as a globe of such size 

 that the other parts seem to be merely the appendages. 



The Apolemia contorta (fig. 119) unites the most 

 graceful form to the utmost transparency and delicacy 

 of tissue. It has a double float, the first small and glo- 

 bular, the second long and oval. The neck is short, the 

 rose-coloured body is flat as a ribbon, and covered with 

 thin, curved, pointed, and imbricated plates, like tiles 

 on the roof of a house, but so minute that they are only 

 perceptible to the naked eye by a slight iridescence. At 

 the extremity of the short neck buds, semi-developed 

 buds, and perfect swimming cups are arranged in ver- 

 tical series ; and as the flat body is twisted into a spiral 

 to its farthest end, the cluster of bells forms a perfect 



