58 G. M. Giles — 0)1 Cyrtopliium calamicola. [No. 1, 



have dredged a specimen of a grass in excellent preservation many 

 miles from land in nearly 200 fathoms. It is evident therefore that 

 our Cyrtopliium wonld experience no want of building materials in the 

 moderate depths which he inhabits. Subsequent examinations, both by 

 teazing and section, have shewn that this structure is the rule, viz., a 

 vegetable tube covered inside and out with hardened secretion. In some 

 few of the tubes, however, no trace of vegetable structure could be de- 

 tected ; and it is probable that the animal is quite capable of constructing 

 a protection for itself without the aid of such a basis. Haswell, indeed, 

 following Spence Bate {op. cit.), appears to take this power as an 

 accepted fact, for he includes the genus Cyrtopliium in a section named 

 ' Nidifica ' defined as " Having the power of secreting a substance, that, 

 like a web, binds together the material of which the nest is composed, 

 or one of a more membranous character." It appears to me, too, that 

 the intricate peculiarities of the form of the limbs tends to corroborate 

 this view. The peculiar teeth of the dactylopodite of the second gnatho- 

 pod are clearly suited only for cutting, and the organ would be admirably 

 adapted for trimming a piece of grass to suit its purpose, or for severing 

 the thread of secretion ; it is to be noticed that they are quite different 

 from those of the anterior gnathopod, the serratures of which are simple 

 like those of a saw. Again, the distal joint of the 6th thoracic apjjendages 

 is admirably adapted for guiding a thread, but is so shaped as to be 

 nearly useless either for ordinary progression or for manipulating the 

 food. I have not been able to satisfy myself as to the position of the 

 gland which would be necessary for the production of such a secretion. 

 Cement-glands have been described in the gnathopodal propodites, and 

 glands of a probably different nature also in more or fewer of the bases 

 of the thoracic limbs. Glands are observable in both these situations 

 in this species. The posterior part of the huge propodal joint of the 2nd 

 gnathopod is filled with a collection of rounded nucleate cells which, so 

 far as can be seen through the chitinous cuticle, appears essentially of a 

 glandular character, and from its volume I am strongly inclined to 

 believe is the organ concerned in the production of the membrane- 

 forming secretion. 



All attempts at keeping the animal in captivity failed. Even when 

 kept in a large bulk of water aerated by means of a pressure-apparatus 

 specimens soon died, whether they were turned out of their tubes or 

 allowed to retain them. This could hardly have been for want of oxygen, 

 for a fish, exceeding the Cyrtopliium many hundred times in bulk, was 

 kept alive in the same apparatus for over five days under precisely 

 the same circumstances. It is probable that the clearness of the water 

 indispensable for observation had something to do with this. 



