190 THE BRANCHING CORYNE. 



examined in a microscope of rather high power, each 

 of the ultimate nerves of the pinnation, as well as the 

 vanes or pinnules themselves, is seen to be com- 

 posed of a single row of red transparent cells, of an 

 oblong cylindrical form sometimes swollen in the 

 middle, attached to each other end by end, looking 

 something like the back-bone of a fish, when all the 

 ribs and spines are detached. 



But what attracted me on this tuft of sea-weed 

 whose soft feathery branches were hanging from the 

 sides of the rock iuto the calm and dark pool, was a 

 slender branching filament that was evidently a para- 

 site. I separated the Ptilota with as much of the 

 base as I could, and put it into a broad-mouthed 

 phial of clean water, I could not wait till I got 

 home, but looked out for a dry smooth stone on 

 which to sit, pulled out my pocket-lens, and looked at 

 it. To my gratification it was a polype that I had 

 several times vainly wished to find ; I had no difficulty 

 in recognizing its similitude to Mrs Johnston's beau- 

 tiful figure of Coryne pusilla in Brit. Zooph. pi. ii. 

 (2nd. Edit.); thoagh I think it rather belongs to the 

 species distinguished as ramosa. It may possibly 

 be the C. glandiilosa of Dalyell (An. of Scot. Vol. ii. 

 pi. 21) ;— but hardly of pi. 22. 



It was not however, until I could institute a closer 

 examination of it at home, that I fully apprehended 

 its curious structure or its elegant beauty, and this, by 

 the aid of a sketch that I immediately made of its 

 microscopic appearance, I will endeavour to convey 

 to you. 



The animal as seen by the naked eye looks like a 



