290 DEVELOPMENT OF THE CELL. 



proceeded so far as the formation of the cell, the bot- 

 tom of which was filled with the granular matter as 

 yet amorphous, no trace of the polype being yet dis- 

 coverable (Fig. 12). This was the most matured 

 phase of the development that appeared on the expe- 

 rimenting plates of glass; but the transition from 

 this state to that of the young polypes already de- 

 scribed at the bottom of the vessel is short and obvious ; 

 and the progress from one of them to a perfect poly- 

 pidom is but a matter of increase and aggregation. 

 There is, however, a hiatus in this chain ; I should 

 have particularly wished to see one or more specimens 

 between the condition of the adherent globule, and 

 that of the formed and growing tube : but of this 

 intermediate stage my glass plates presented no spe- 

 cimen. And whether the water in the shallow stage- 

 troughs, to which I removed the plates for microscopic 

 examination, afforded insufficient nutriment, I know 

 not ; but I could not find that any individual speci- 

 men continued to grow after the removal from the 

 larger vessel; and they shortly gave evident tokens of 

 death and decay. 



In examining a cluster of the same polype from the 

 Bathing Pool, I was struck with the great similarity 

 of the expanded disk to that of the embryo of Lao- 

 medea geniculata, I have figured a segment at fig. 3. 

 I cannot find any trace of the so-called auditory cap- 

 sules. The tentacles are very distinctly armed with 

 whorls of tubercles, some of which have two, and 

 even three points. They are as it were jointed, being 

 crossed at regular intervals by well-marked transverse 

 lines (i. e. planes). The centre of the disk is protu- 



