Zoophytes — Quadrupeds. 2223 



secured, I place it in an oven or by the side of the fire, when, in the course of a few 

 seconds, life becomes extinct by the heated air ; but care should be taken not to allow 

 it to remain too long, otherwise the insect must be softened before it can be set. — 

 Joseph Duff. 



Definitions of Three New British Zoophytes. By Arthur Hill Hassall, Esq., 



F.L.S., Surgeon. 



Coppinia, nov. gen. 



Polypidom parasitic, massive, hirsute ; polype cells elongated, tubular, often curved, 

 arising at irregular distances (and generally at the angles of junction) out of a cellular 

 basis, the apertures of the cells or spaces of which are often themselves covered in by 

 a lid perforated by a small tubular orifice. 



But a single species at present included in this genus, — Coppinia mirabilis. 



Campanularia serpens. 



Polypidom encrusting, spreading ; cells small, sessile, often curved, with an even 

 patulous vein ; root-like fibres obscure, firmly attached to the object (often a Sertula- 

 ria) upon which the species is developed, and incapable of being detached and exhi- 

 bited in a separate form. 



Sertularia gracilis. 



Polypidom slender; cells opposite, tubular, everted; apertures oblique, slightly 

 mucronated, having an average diameter of about the gjgth of an inch ; vesicles sessile, 

 obovate, with small, circular, smooth, terminal perforations, averaging the T J s th of an 

 inch in diameter. 



A very distinct and interesting species. 



A. H. Hassall. 



July, 1848. 



Anecdote of a Rat. — The wall of the renowned Battel Abbey abuts to my neigh- 

 bour's garden : there is a Morella cherry tree growing against the wall. For some 

 days past he missed great numbers of cherries from the tree, and could not detect the 

 thief, till at last, walking one day at noon, he saw a house rat deliberately biting the 

 cherries off by the stalk, and taking them away to a hole in the wall. This is a most 

 extraordinary occurrence, as, the cherries being bitter, one would have imagined that 

 they would have been far from palatable. — /. B. Ellman ; Battel, July 31, 1848. 



