208 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1915 



Fig. 5. A schematic representation 

 of a transverse section through a 

 retracted polyp of Cornularia 

 ■minuta to show the relative posi- 

 tions of the body layers, a, the 

 perisarc. The ectoderm is cross- 

 lined, the mesogloea is in black, 

 and the endoderm is represented 

 by a line. (Siphonoglyphe not in- 

 dicated. ) 



surrounding its base. This is from 

 one third to one half as long as the 

 body of the extended polyp, and in 

 contraction has the shape of a trun- 

 cated cone or an old-fashioned bee- 

 hive, the distal aperture being nearly 

 closed and the base considerably 

 broadened. The retraction of the 

 polyps is accomplished as in Clavu- 

 laria, by the pushing in of the distal 

 portion, so that a transverse section 

 of such a polyp taken so as to cut 

 through the stomodseum near the 

 mouth would cut the body wall three 

 times as indicated in fig. 5. In re- 

 tracted polyps the strongly muscled 

 tentacles are tightly contracted and 

 form an irregularly arranged mass 

 over the oral surface and are not invaginated as figured by 

 von Koch (1890) for Rhizoxenia (Evagora) rosea and by Quoy 

 and Gaimard (1834) for Clavularia violacea.- The stomodgeum 

 in contracted polyps ends near the floor of the body cavity, 

 and the mesenteries and 

 mesenterial filaments are 

 crowded together in its 

 lower portion. 



The ectoderm of the body 

 wall and of the stolons is 

 thin and rather irregular, 

 often consisting of a single 

 layer of flat cells so thin 

 that the nuclei form pro- 

 tuberances in the layer. 

 On the tentacles it is 

 thicker, being a number of 

 cells in depth, and it con- 

 tains in many places large 

 numbers of very curious 

 oval bodies (fig. 7) con- 

 sisting of an outer rounded 

 or oval capsule containing 



Fic. 6. A drawing, from camera lucida outlines, 

 of part of an oblique, transverse section through 

 a contracted polyp of Cornularia minuta. a, the 

 point of junction of the body cavity and one 

 of the stolons ; a', an oblique section through one 

 of the endodermal canals of the stolon ; b, the 

 perisarc ; c, the wall of the polyp, represented 

 in black ; d, the stomodseum ; e, the siphono- 

 glyphe; / and /', mesenteries. X65.5. 



'I fail to find this invagination in Philippine specimens of Clavularia 

 violacea. Notes on Philippine Alcyonaria, Pt. IV. This Journal, Sec. A 

 (1915), 10, 155. 



