Submarine Architecture. 343 



of Serpula contortwplicata, among the windings of which are 

 several miniature oysters. The spire is covered with patches 

 of sponge, Lepralia, and Balani, and a sort of stippled marking 

 in other parts of the shell indicate that some other colonies had 

 commenced operations when we hauled it up, and arrested for 

 a while the progress of the submarine architecture. 



When we have made this general survey, and are still in 

 doubt as to the genera and species of a few of the deposits, we 

 ask each other in a chorus : " How is it done ? who begins it ? 

 How is a hold first made upon the slippery surface of a glass 

 bottle?" We take it out of the vessel, detach a few of the 

 Actinias that have insinuated themselves between the folds of 

 the Serpulae, and turn it upside down. The hollow foot is as 

 bright and clean as when the bottle was cast overboard by some 

 party of merry yachters seven, eight, or ten years since. The 

 sea water has not even corroded it, and the vitreous surface has 

 an almost new look and polish. We reverse it, and peep inside. 

 There, too, the surface glistens, and betrays no corrosion by 

 chemical action, and the bottle is as empty as when it first left 

 the glass works. Strange that no troglodytic anemone, no 

 nereis or polyzoon is to be found there. Why should these 

 creatures, that people the sea bottom in myriads, avoid the 

 inside, and yet so love the outside of a champagne bottle ? 

 Does the discrimination betray a faithfulness to Neptune 

 against Bacchus, — adherence to the good uncle, and a careful 

 avoidance of the giddy nephew ? No doubt the Serpula and 

 Cirripedes have their likes and dislikes^ and here is an example 

 thereof. 



When we drain the bottle dry, and examine it with a lens^ 

 we begin to understand something of the rationale of marine 

 architecture. Every one of the larger tubes and shells rests on 

 a foundation of deposits formed by some lower forms of life. 

 Scattered over the surface are the remains of colonies of Le- 

 pralia of several species, amongst which L. Pallasiana may be 

 distinguished by the form of the cells, as the most conspicuous. 

 These patches thicken towards the larger attachments, and in 

 nearly every case unite around them in unbroken masses, and 

 form the foundations of oysters and serpulee. There are other 

 patches of Nolella stipatd (Grosse) the orifices of which are 

 imperceptible to the naked eye, but under a good lens easily 

 discernible, each with its bell of tentacles, which by their 

 quietude contrast prettily with the irritant beaks of the 

 Lepralia. The rarest of this class of encrusting polyzoa are 

 Membranipora membranacea, and M. pilosa, both of which 

 appear in little detached rings, suddenly invested on one side 

 with the outgrowth of some of the larger patches of Lepralia. 

 Then mixed with these are masses of Pachymatisma Johnstonia 



