1880. | The Siphonophores. 627 
Agalma is still more complicated. According to these naturalists 
there are two elastic bands or threads, which arise from the inside 
of the involucrum and are fastened to the extremity of the coiled 
sacculus. Their figures of a knob where the sacculus has been 
uncoiled, show these bands very plainly. When the sacculus is 
withdrawn into the involucrum it is wound around a style which 
passes directly from the fundus of the involucrum to the con- 
tractile sac. I have seen portions of the elastic bands, and figure 
them in my drawing. Provisional embryonic knobs exist in lar- 
val stages : they will be described later. ` 
J. The Tasters—The word taster, by which organs now to be 
described have been designated by the Germans, is one of the 
best which has been suggested. The tasters have also been called 
“hydrocysts” and “Saft-bchaltern.” These bodies 
are easily to be mistaken for undeveloped feeding 
polyps, but a more intimate study of them shows 
the error of so doing. They differ from the adult 
polypite in that they have no mouth, are destitute 
of hepatic cells, and their tentacles have no tentacu- 
lar knobs. They never, in Agalma, drop off, and 
it is extremely doubtful that they ever separate 
from the colony and form new communities similar 
to those from which they are themselves buds. 
Large lasso cells are sometimes found near their 
base, at the proximal end, one of which was erro- 
neously mistaken fora float. Claus has made some 
very beautiful researches on the histology of the 
faster. I believe the taster is homologous to a 
polypite, and that its function has, in certain re- 
Spects, changed its form. 
&- The Sexual Bells—There remains yet to be 
mentioned the sexual members of the “ colony.” 
-© They assume the most perfect medusa form, and 
are found in clusters along the whole polyp stem. 
Agalma is moneecious; the male and female bells f 
‘are separated from each other on the same stem, | 
_ and arise on special pedicels from the axis. The 
female bells form botryoidal clusters and lie about 
midway between two polypites, but are never joined ve eae 
to the tasters as in some other genera. Each 
‘From “ fasten,” to touch. 
