﻿218 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



is, off the coast of Carolina.^ There is therefore no reason, 

 on general grounds, why the species should not occur in our 

 temperate seas, notwithstanding that on the eastern side of 

 the Atlantic the farthest south records are from Iceland ^ 

 and Tromsd^ 



On the following grounds, therefore, I venture to suggest 

 that Selaginopsis mirahilis is a native of British seas. 

 Specimens have been found in the net of a trawl-boat which 

 had taken its last few hauls off Flamborough Head. These 

 specimens were almost certainly picked up in these last 

 hauls, because : — 



(1) They were " absolutely fresh " when landed at Hull. 



(2) The perisarc was in good condition ; the pinnae were 

 unbroken, and bore many delicate gonangia. (Had the 

 specimens been dragged in the net time and again over the 

 sea-bottom in successive hauls, considerable damage would 

 have been done to structures so fragile.) 



(3) The colonies were growing on a stone. It is extremely 

 unlikely that a stone would have been retained in a net 

 whose "cod-end" had been opened to allow the escape of 

 the " catch." 



That some shred of doubt will always cling to a trawler- 

 made record is perhaps inevitable ; but I have mentioned the 

 occurrence of the specimens partly that collectors may 

 be on the outlook for this fine species which, on casual 

 examination, might easily be rejected as the not uncommon 

 Thuiaria lonchitis (Ell. and Sol.) \_Th. articulata of Hincks's 

 " British Hydroids "]. 



Notes on the Specimens. — The following variations have been 

 observed. In one case, where the distal portion of a 

 gonangium had become broken, the position of the reproductive 

 coenosarc has been usurped by a vegetative bud, with the 

 result that a branch springs from the lumen of the 



^ ISTutting, C. C, "American Hydroids: the Sertularidse,"' Smithsonian 

 Instit., Special Bull., 1904, p. 128. 



Saeoiundsson, B., Bidrag til Kundskaben ovi de Islandske Hydroider, 

 1902, p. 63. 



Bonnevie, K., "Neue norwegische Hydroiden," Bergens Mus. Aarbog, 

 1899, p. 12. 



