80 POPULAR ILLUSTRATIONS OF 



termed the somatic cavity : and you will understand ever more all 

 about the formation and terminology of Zoophytes, the Sertularidae 

 being typical of the family. I have said nothing about the bell 

 (/, Fig. 102, p. 79) containing the rounded-looking bodies, because 

 these are connected with the creature's propagation, and the whole 

 interesting subject of development will be best considered after the 

 different families have been illustrated and described. 



Well, now, as I have said before, these Sertularidse are very 

 beautiful objects, and, as most people go to the sea-side, I 

 hope I shall be the means of adding to their pleasure by point- 

 ing out how they can be recognised and studied. They are 

 found upon anything which will give them a firm attachment 

 shells, pebbles, rocks, pieces of wood and are even parasitical 

 on sea-weed ; and the heads and tentacles are of various colours, 

 looking, as their name implies, like garlands or bouquets of 

 flowers. Every one at the sea-side who cares about studying natural 

 objects should carry with him a good pocket or Stanhope lens, which 

 he can buy from an optician for a few shillings, and if he places 

 his Zoophyte in a shallow vessel, and covers it entirely with sea- 

 water, he will be able to watch its movements and examine its 

 beautiful structure with the greatest ease. I have appended some 

 magnified figures of each known genus of the British Sertularidse, 

 and upon these I will offer a few general remarks. 



As seen by the naked eye the Sertularidse have little to invite 

 attention, many of them being passed over as minute sea-weeds, or 

 lumps of moss, or something not at all worth looking at by those 

 who are attracted by the more gorgeous visible beauties of the sea- 

 anemone, or the Coral, or 



Pale glistering pearls and rainbow-coloured shells. 



Still there are many of them which have a characteristic form, which 

 attracts the eye of the collector at once. Thus, Fig. 103 is exactly 

 like a miniature tree, with the branches springing from the bottom 

 of the main trunk, and occurring in the same order and regularity 

 as in the tree. 



Observe also that the same rule of alternation obtains in the 

 branches as is observed in the plant. The thick-looking stem from 

 which the branchlets proceed in the figure is one of these branches 

 magnified. The main stem in a state of nature is in fine specimens 

 more than half the thickness of that in the figure. It is only when 

 magnified that the minute terminal branches show the cells and 

 polyps as seen in the figure. The latter are yellowish in colour. 

 The branches all come off at an acute angle from the stem, which 

 gives them the appearance of the backbone of a fish, and hence it is 



