THEIR STRUCTURE. 149 



they cling around the flesh with the most annoying 

 tenacity, so that it is no easy matter to cleanse one's 

 hand of them. In what resides this adhesive power ? 

 Doubtless in the barbed threads which are sheathed 

 in innumerable myriads in every filament. The force 

 with which these javelins are projected, their elastic 

 strength, and their excessive tenuity enable them to 

 penetrate animal tissues, even of apparently dense 

 texture ; and their barbed bristles enable them to 

 maintain a firm hold. On this matter I beg my 

 reader's reference to the note on the filaments of 

 Adamsia, in p. 143. 



Under the compressorium the thread suddenly 

 cracks, with a start and a crepitation distinctly audi- 

 ble ; a curious circumstance, which seems to indicate a 

 crustaceous or siliceous structure somewhere. I think 

 it cannot be the walls of the filament itself, but the 

 capsules, that crack, minute as they are. The filament 

 is more densely filled with capsules than that of any 

 species which I am acquainted with : perhaps there 

 are even millions of them. The capsules are of about 

 the average size of those found in other Actiniae ; viz. 

 ■g^th of an inch in length, and of the ordinary form, 

 linear- oblong, almost straight; the contained thread is 

 propelled to no great length, in some cases scarcely 

 exceeding that of the capsule, in others reaching to 

 five times the length ; or from -joj-th to 775 th of an inch. 

 'A slight thickness is discernible about the basal half, 

 which indicates an armed furniture, but I was unable 

 to resolve its precise structure. 



A rank penetrating odour proceeds from this species, 

 in a greater degree than usual. It is communicated 



