TENTACLES OF A SIPHONOPHORE. 3 
occupied from ten to twenty fathoms of line as it was drawn up. No time of the year 
can be definitely stated as to when it was most abundant. 
Note by Joun Rennig, D.Se., University of Aberdeen. 
The specimens described as “ bootlaces” consist of a number of tentacles of a 
Siphonophore, taken by Mr. Hodgson under the difficulties just described. The state 
of preservation is not very good, the parts are extremely friable, and break readily 
on manipulation. It is not possible to tell whether they originally formed one piece* 
or not. Besides smaller portions, there are nine parts, ranging in length from 
about 30 cm. to 6 cm., with an almost uniform diameter of 3°6 mm. The surface 
is in colour a dirty greyish white, and under a low power is seen to be divided up 
into definitely marked areas (see figs. 1-5), such as distinguish the tentacles found by 
the Scottish Antarctic Expedition, and described by me.t Cnidoblasts of large size are 
present in great abundance upon these areas. They possess a lasso, which is at least 
nine times the length of the cell, and which is barbed throughout its entire leneth. 
Ketodermal and endodermal canals of the ordinary type are present, and no further 
noteworthy features are observable. These tentacles differ from those of the Scottish 
Expedition, both in colour and consistency, the latter beg brownish and of a markedly 
gelatinous nature even in their badly preserved parts. They appear to belong to a 
distinct and otherwise unknown form. 
* Before being taken from the water the organism was unquestionably in a single piece, and was so whenever 
it occurred.—T.V.H. 
t Proc. Royal Physical Society, Edin. XVI. (1904), p. 25-7. 
