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The Philippine Journal of Science 



1914 



Fig. 1. Spicules from the 

 polyp and tentacles of Lem- 

 nalioides kiikenthali; a, a 

 polyp spindle showing the 

 axis to be seen in cleared 

 specimens ; 6, a spindle 

 from the distal end of one 

 of the double rows, showing 

 the axis and the divided and 

 sculptured distal end ; c, 

 tentacle spicules. X 112.5. 



about 0.5 mm. in diameter. The lateral twigs decrease in length 

 from as much as 9 mm. at the base of a branch to 3 or 4 mm. 

 toward the tip of the branch. The lines of the canal walls are 

 distinct on the stem and branches, and each polyp can be plainly 

 seen to be the termination of a canal. 

 The stomodseum is long, thick walled, and spindle-shaped, 



and contains no spicules. In an aver- 

 age polyp it is 0.6 mm. in length 

 and 0.2 mm. in greatest (central) diam- 

 eter. The tentacles are large with a 

 double row of short thick pinnulae on 

 each side and a median band of muscle 

 fibers on the outer surface (fig. 6). 

 They contain only a very few, small, 

 scattered spicules. - 



The polyp armature is not heavy, and 

 consists of smooth spindles in an ir- 

 regularly transverse arrangement on 

 the body of the polyps. Distally, they 

 form a double row of 5 or 6 pairs of 

 spindles at the base of each tentacle 

 (fig. 6). 

 The polyp spindles are rather irregular, bent, or curved, with a 

 few low projections, and a narrow, distinct, central axis, and ap- 

 pear, in cleared specimens, to be more like flexible fibers than stiff 

 spicules (fig. 1, a). They are from 0.15 to 0.20 mm. in length 

 and from 0.005 to 0.008 mm. in diameter, and have somewhat 

 swollen and divided ends. This is particularly true of the distal 



ends of the spindles of the double rows 

 which are mushroomed and much 

 divided and sculptured (fig. 1, b). 



The very few tentacle spicules are 

 irregular forms found in the crotch 

 between two tentacles and here and 

 there in the pinnules of the lower 

 part of the tentacles. They range 

 from 0.04 to 0.05 mm. in length, and 

 are sculptured over their entire sur- 

 face, particularly heavily at the outer ends (fig. 1, c) . 



The spicules of the stem and branch cortex are spindles. They 

 are numerous, but do not seem to have the hard brittle character 

 of the spicules of Lemnalia, as the cortex of the colony except at 

 the base is soft and pliable. In the upper stem, these spindles are 

 smooth and curved and are very similar to those of the polyp 



Fig. 2. Spindles from the stem 

 cortex of Lemnalioides kiiken- 

 thali; a, from the upper stem ; b, 

 from the mid stem. X 112.5. 



