r 



108 



Ikke iagttaget paa de to Exemplarer, vi have havt til Un- 

 dersøgelse. Polypiden er vandklar med 24 lange Ten- 

 takler; Maven gul, forsynet med en kort Tarm. 



Rodtraaden forholder sig i det Væsentlige paa lig- 

 nende Maade som paa den foregaaende Art, — dog med 

 nogen Variation. Den tager sin Begyndelse fra Zooeciets 

 nederste og ydre Del (Hjørne) og gaar som en rund Liste 

 over paa Kanden af det ældre, underliggende Zooecium, hvor 

 den paa den nederste Del forener sig med den ældre Rod- 

 traad (Fig. IIa, a). Imellem Zooecierne, der hvor det ældres 

 Top støder til det yngres Grunddel, udgaar fra Rodtraa- 

 den en conisk tilspidset halvrund Lap, hvis afrundede frie 

 Del vender udad, og hvis hredere Del ligesom udfylder 

 Rummet mellem begge Zooecierne (Fig. 11 c, c). Ved den 

 nederste (inderste) % Del af Grenene udbreder Rodtraa- 

 den sig til en Membran, der udfylder Grenenes Mellemrum 

 og forener dem med hinanden (Fig. 11 e). Paa Polyzoa- 

 riets forreste Flade gaar Rodtraaden imellem to Zooecier, 

 udbreder sig ogsaa her membranagtig over Apophyserne 

 og danner en Skede for Muskeltendoen, hvorefter den 

 som en tynd Hinde beklæder hele Zooeciets forreste Flade 

 til opimod Mundaabningen. Endelig udfylder Rodtraaden 

 ved en lignende Membrandannelse de Mellemrum, som 

 fremkomme derved, at Zooeciernes indre Rande ikke ganske 

 støde til hinanden paa Grenen (Fig. 11 f), saa at hvert 

 Zooecium har sin særegne Indfatning, dannet af Rodtraad- 

 udbredningen. I denne membranøse Udbredning sees en 

 Mængde finere Kalkpunkter, samt en hel Del lysere, lige- 

 som forgrenede Linier, der vistnok ere de af Smitt anty- 

 dede Kolonialnerver, men som vi ikke kunne godkjende 

 som saadanne. Rodtraadene forene sig nedad til en yderst 

 kort Stilk, hvorfra de 4 Hovedgrene udgaa. Men foruden 

 denne korte Stilk, der tjener til at befæste Polyzoariet 

 til Sand eller Smaastene, saa findes paa den nederste Del 

 af den forreste Flade af hver Hovedgren 8 — 10 Rodtraade, 

 der tage Udspring fra den førbeskrevne Membran, som 

 binder saavel Hoved- som Bigrenene sammen. Disse mang- 

 foldige Rodtraade ere temmelig tynde, cylindriske, vand- 

 klare, og omgive den egentlige Stilk som en Søilering, 

 idet ogsaa de fæste sig til Smaasten eller Sandkorn. 

 (Fig. 9). 



Ogsaa denne Art har en selvstændig Bevægelse, lige- 

 som den foregaaende, hvortil det beskrevne Muskelappa- 

 rat tjener. Hvert Zooecium paa Colonien har sin sær- 

 skilte stærke Muskel, der tjener det til Bevægelse. Naar 

 dette Muskelapparat er sat i Virksomhed, bevæger en 

 større eller mindre Del af Grenene sig paa den Maade, at 

 de bøies forover, hvorved den forreste Flade bliver den 

 underste, og den bagerste bliver den øverste. Naar samt- 



jaw is sculptured with radiary markings; and the sides 

 of the strongly curved upper beak are winged (fig. 13, 14^ 

 The crown is much arched; and the upper part of the 

 stem extends some distance up on the back of the head 

 with which it is articulated. We have not observed any 

 ooecia in the two specimens we have had to examine. 

 The polypide is pellucide, with 24 long tentacles; the 

 stomach is yellow, and has a short intestine. 



The rootlet is essentially as in the species previously 

 described, — yet with some variation. It takes its begin- 

 ning from the lower and outer part (angle) of the zooe- 

 cium, and goes like a round fillet over on to the margin 

 of the older subjacent zooecium, where it unites itself 

 on the lower part with the older rootlet (fig. 11 a, a). 

 Between the zooecia, where the top of the older one 

 joins the base of the younger, there issues from the 

 rootlet a conically tapered semi-globular lobe, the rounded 

 free part of which points outwards, and the broader part 

 of which, as it were, fills the space between both the 

 zooecia (fig. 11 c, c). At the lower (innermost) 2 / 3 of the 

 branches, the rootlet expands into a membrane, which 

 fills the interval between the branches and unites them 

 to each other (fig. 11 e). On the anterior surface of 

 the polyzoarium, the rootlet goes between two zooecia, 

 expands also here, membrane-like, over the apophyses, 

 and forms a sheath for the tendon of the muscle, after 

 which it covers, like a thin membrane, the whole of the 

 anterior surface of the zooecium until up towards the 

 oral aperture. Finally the rootlet, by a similar mem- 

 branous formation, occupies the intervals produced by 

 the interior margins of the zooecia not being quite con- 

 tiguous on the branch (fig. 11 f); so that each zooecium 

 has its own enclosure formed by the expansion of the 

 rootlet. In this membranous expanse, there appear a 

 number of finer calcareous points and a number of ligh- 

 ter, as it were, ramified lines, which are certainly the 

 colonial nerves indicated by Smitt, but which we cannot 

 acknowledge as such. The rootlets connect themselves 

 below in an extremely short stem, whence proceed the 

 4 main-branches. But besides this short stem, which 

 serves to attach the polyzoarium to sand or small stones, 

 there are on the lower part of the anterior surface of 

 each main-branch, 8—10 rootlets, which take their issue 

 from the membrane previously described, connecting as 

 well the main-branches as the subsidiary branches to- 

 gether. The numerous rootlets are rather thin, cylin- 

 drical, pellucid, and surround the proper stem like a ring 

 of columns, attaching themselves also to small stones or 

 grains of sand (fig. 9). 



Also this species has an independent movement, like 

 the former, effected by the muscular apparatus described. 

 Each zooecium in the colony has its separate strong 

 muscle which serves it for movement. When this muscalar 

 apparatus is brought into activity, a greater or a less 

 number of branches move so that they are bent forward, 

 whereby the anterior surface becomes the undermost, and 

 the posterior, the uppermost. When all the contracting 



I 



