ITS FORM. 22^ 



ed at the tip, where there are three tentacnla formed 

 exactly Hke those of C. ramosa, but the round heads 

 are much larger in proportion, and more coarsely 

 granulated ; their diameter is nearly equal to that of 

 the polype : the head is flattened vertically ; the oval 

 grains of which it is composed are very distinct, and 

 eacli is furnished with a conical transparent point 

 ending in a short bristle. Tliis point is distinct from 

 the oval granule, and its outline is perfectly discernible 

 when seen vertically, as well as laterally. (Fig. 6). 

 Near the base of the polype, at a slight swelling, there 

 are four or five arms, which seem to be the withered 

 remnants of former tentacles, from which the round 

 heads have sloughed off. The specimen may be the 

 young of C. ramosa, (Fig. 5.) The animal is active, 

 bending both the tentacles and the body in all direc- 

 tions : the latter especially is frequently curved round 

 into a circle, so that the tip touches some part of the 

 side, or one of the tentacles. The very extremity 

 above the tentacles is surprisingly flexible ; and its 

 walls are contractile and expansile. I saw the terminal 

 orifice often partially opened by evolution of the skin, 

 and then partially closed by a puckering of the sur- 

 rounding margin : sometimes the interior was turned 

 out so far as for the head to form a longish cylinder. 

 But to my surprise, I find that this orifice is a great 

 sucking disk. I had put the animals in what micros- 

 copists call a live-box, and the two glass surfaces were 

 just wide enough apart to allow the animal free liberty 

 to turn about in all directions as far as it wished. On 

 my looking at it after a momentary interval I saw that 

 the extremity had suddenly become a large circular 



