Zoology^ NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. \Polyzoa. 



areolations ; at the growing apex these are seen to be the openings 

 of close-set tubes, which give that part of the polyzoary a spongy 

 or honeycomb appearance ; further towards the base they become 

 filled with calcareous matter. In some cells there are one or more 

 rounded elevations in the neighborhood of the mouth ; these are 

 plain, or have what seems to be an avicularium on the side of the 

 apex. In almost all the cells there is a round pore below the 

 mouth. The avicularia are very small, short, and broad, and are 

 usually situated on the interstices between the cells or on the 

 prominences round the mouth. The ovicells are deeply immersed, 

 indistinguishable from the other cells except for the larger projec- 

 tion upwards. 



Explanation of Figures. 



Plate 48. — Fig. 3, specimen, natural size. Fig. 3a, a portion, magnified, showing the 

 ovicells at the upper part. Fig. 3b, single cell and ovicell, more highly magnified, showing also 

 the minute avicularia. Fig. 3c, part of a young cell, showing the mouth and elevations 

 surrounding it, on the outer part of several of which is what seems to be a small avicularium. 



Plate 48, Fig. 4. 

 ESCHARA PLATALEA (Busk). 



Description. — Polyzoary dividing" into flat, thick lobes, branching and some- 

 times anastomosing-; cells ovate; mouth arched above, straight below; a simple, 

 round pore in a depressed area below the mouth. Avicularia of two sorts : small, 

 and usually situated below the mouth and to one side, or replacing- a cell, very large, 

 and with a long, spatulate mandible. 



Reference. — Busk, Cat. Mar. Pol. Brit. Mus., p. 90, t. cv., figs. 1, 2, 3; cviii., 

 fig. 4. 



Queenscliff. 



In this species the polyzoary is stony, disposed in flat lobnlated 

 branches, which sometimes anastomose together so as to leave linear 

 or elliptical foramina. The junctions of the branches can be readily 

 distinguished, and they frequently overlap. The cells are usually 

 ovate. The mouth is rounded above, and straight or rounded 

 below. There is generally a simple round pore at the bottom of a 

 depression below the mouth. The surface is smooth, granular, or 



Dec. v, . [ 41 1 F 



