84 The Wandering Polyzoon. 



the liberty of referring to my own remarks, published five or six 

 years ago, in the Microscopic Journal* as .1 have no reason to 

 " change my prescription,' - ' and am nnable to give better advice. 

 Where, then, to look for, and how to find Cristatella mucedo ? 

 As to the first question — where to look ? — I must answer, in 

 clear ponds, and lakes, and canals. I suspect that Cristatella, 

 though generally speaking, little known, is not nearly so un- 

 common as some people suppose. I am inclined to believe that 

 this species is as frequently to be met with as some others of 

 the fresh-water group, such as Fredericella and some of the 

 PlumatellidoB, but while in these last cases an upturned stone, 

 or the under side of a submerged leaf of branch, at once 

 reveals the presence of the adherent specimens — for the 

 sponge-like masses of Alcyonella, and the branching tubes 

 of Plumatella, are evident to the eye without the slightest effort 

 — it is not by any means so easy a matter to detect the presence 

 of Oristatella, whose light- coloured ccenoeciurn can only with 

 much difficulty, and continued straining of the eyes, be seen, 

 as the little colony rests upon some submerged weed or stone, 

 which weeds, in the middle of summer, are sure to be overspread 

 with the filaments of Diatomacece and other Algse, thus rendering 

 the detection of the Polyzoon a task far from easy. Every lake, 

 mill-pond, clear canal, or reservoir may be suspected to contain 

 these most exquisite of. the Polyzoa. Now the winter eggs, or 

 statoblasts,f are readily found, much more easily than the deve- 

 loped colony; therefore, let the searcher after these aquatic 

 treasures turn his attention to the discovery of the statoblasts, 

 and let him look for them late in the autumn, in the winter, and 

 spring. In order to obtain these statoblasts — little dark cir- 

 cular bodies about the size of a pin's head, an enlarged repre- 

 sentation of which may be seen in the plate which illustrates these 

 few remarks — I would say, go to the sheltered spots in the pool, 

 where the wind has blown all the floating rubbish, duck-weed, 

 tangled masses of Algse, decayed roots of grasses, etc., and 

 carefully examine the rubbish, bit by bit, in your hands if you 

 like, but the best way is to thin out the rubbish in the water, 

 when small aggregated masses of statoblasts will show them- 

 selves, varying in size from that of a pea to an inch in length. 

 The isolated individuals are not, as a rule, to be depended upon, 

 for they are generally only the separated faces of old specimens. 

 I have taken home frozen up lumps of rubbish, and have from 

 them obtained statoblasts which have duly germinated, though 

 I have never been able to keep the young polypes alive more 



* See the' Number for October, 1859, p. 59. 



t For further remarks on these bodies, and other interesting particulars, the 

 reader should refer to Mr. Slack's paper in the November No. of The Intel- 

 lectual Obseeveb, 1862, pp. 271—274. 



