274 PEOF. W. A. HEKDMAN OIS^. 



Kerrera and Lismore, in the Firth of Lorn, is, however, the spot where this 

 giant *' sea-pen " seems to live in greatest abundance and to attain to the 

 largest size (62 inches is still my greatest recorded length of colony). It is 

 pretty clear now that Fumcidina quadrangularis is widely distributed in the 

 more sheltered sea-lochs of Scotland, at depths of about 20 fathoms and 

 upwards *, and always embedded in a bottom of stiff mud. 



The abundance of Funicidina material we obtained in the Firth of Lorn 

 this year, enabled us to keep some alive, under observation, in baths and 

 basins on deck, and to record the colours in the living expanded condition and 

 also the phenomena of its " phosphorescence." Professor Newstead photo- 

 graphed for me some colonies, living in a long tube of sea-water, where the 

 polypes had expanded to a length of nearly an inch (see PL 19. fig. 1). 



In regard to the " phosphorescence " or luminosity, we were able to 

 watch the colour and distribution of the light emitted both (1) when observed 

 freshly dredged (a very few minutes after being taken from the sea) in an 

 excellent make-shift dark-room — the lazarette of the yacht ; and also (2) 

 some hours afterwards, lying in their basins of sea-water on the deck at 

 midnight. In the two cases the phenomena were the same, and it was 

 noticed that the distribution of the light is quite different from that in the 

 better-known Pennatula pliosphorea. In the latter form the light appears 

 to be restricted to the polypes. I have not been able to excite any luminosity 

 in the stem portion of the Pennatula colony, but illumination of the polypes 

 is very general and beautiful — more general and more lasting than the 

 luminosity of that part of the colony in Funknlina. 



In Funiculina quadrangularis, however, Avhile there are many distinct 

 sparkles scattered over the polype-bearing part of the colony (corresponding, 

 no doubt, to the individual polypes), the long, bare lower part of the stem,, 

 9 inches to a foot in length, when gently stroked in the dark glows with a 

 continuous sheet of light of (it seemed to me) a pale green t colour which 

 flickers or pulsates like a lambent flame. The light on this bare part of the 

 colony is certainly more intense than that of the polypes, and is, I think, 

 the most brilliant " phosphorescence " I have seen in any marine animal. 



During the cruise a letter was received from Professor Hickson asking 

 me if I found the allied smaller sea-pen, Virgularia mirabilis, to determine, 

 if possible, whether that form was phosphorescent and could sting. As both 

 of the other British Pennatulids, Funiculina and Pennatula, had been 

 exhibiting a brilliant display of light, I fully expected to find the Virgidaria 

 was also luminous ; and was therefore rather astonished, when we did 

 dredge a couple of colonies of V. mirabilis in Loch Nevis, to notice that, 

 although stimulated in various ways in the dark, not the slightest trace of 



* Sir Wyville Thomson records having dredged it in abundance iu the Sound of Eaasay 

 from a depth of 100 fathoms, on the ' Porcupine ' Expedition. 



t Wyville Thomson in ' Depths of the Sea' refers to the "lilac phosi^horescence " of 

 Funiculina. 



