PH YSOPHORID.^.. 



155 



longest, and also with small cilia, each terminating in a globule, 

 which sometimes contains air; the interior tentacles are shorter, 

 simple, and fleshy. In the centre of these tentacula is the mouth, 

 in form of a small proboscis, leading to a simple stomach surrounded 

 by a somewhat glandular substance. The editors of the last edition 

 of the " Regne Animal " only mention one species, P. gigantea, a 

 native of the Mediterranean and other warm seas, of a beautiful 

 blue colour. Lamarck gives four species. De Blainville and others 







consider, with Cuvier, that they are only varieties which Eschscholtz 

 reunites under one species. In Fig. 5 1 we have represented P. pacifica 

 (Lesson), the disc of which is twelve lines in diameter, without com- 

 prehending the tentacles. This disc is finely radiated on the under 

 surface with a brilUant argentine nacre. The membranous fold 

 which surrounds it is cut into, leaving light and perfectly straight 

 festoons. It is of a clear celestial blue colour, and very transparent. 

 The tentacles are much compressed, very thin and cylindrical, of a 

 light blue, and the glands are of an indigo blue colour. All the re- 

 productive individuals, which are placed in the lower part of the 

 body, are of a perfect hyaline white. 



