454 Proceedings of the 



Laomedea lacerata. 



Description of Plate XXIV. 

 Fig. 1. Male polypary, with polyps and sperm-cells — a, unripe sperm sac — 

 b, ripe do. 



2. Unripe ovarian cell — a, reproductive polyp — b, sac inclosing ovary — c 



endoderm of ovary — d, ectoderm of do. 



3. Ripe ovarian cell, ovary emerging from top of cell and enveloped in 



gelatinous marsupium. 



This zoophyte was described by Johnston (" British Zoo- 

 phytes," 2d edition), under the title of Campanularia lace- 

 rata, as having " cells on short stalks, ovato-conical, the upper 

 half cleft in six lanceolate segments," the cells arising from a 

 creeping tube. In August 1852 (" Annals of Nat. Hist."), the 

 Rev. T. Hincks removed it from the genus Campanularia to 

 that of Laomedea, and described it as follows : — " Stem fili- 

 form, ringed throughout; cells on short pedicles, ovato-conical, 

 the upper portion divided into a number of deep convergent 

 segments." He stated that the stems, which did not exceed 

 the sixteenth of an inch in height, rose from a creeping fibre, 

 and bore their cells on pedicles composed of four or five rings, 

 somewhat irregularly disposed. And further, that this Lao- 

 medea, in its young state, was identical with C. lacerata 

 of Johnston. He had not observed its mode of reproduc- 

 tion. Mr Hincks' description, also, is taken from an imma- 

 ture state of the zoophyte. L. lacerata may be found in pro- 

 fusion at Morrison's Haven, Firth of Forth. It attains a 

 height of an inch and a quarter, slender and lax, but is gene- 

 rally about half an inch high, and bushy. Both varieties are 

 covered with ovarian or spermatic cells in the spring. Plate 

 XXIV., fig. 1, exhibits a male specimen taken with the Camera 

 lucida. The polyps resemble in shape those of C. syringa, 

 have fourteen to sixteen alternating tentacles, and are capable 

 of extending themselves to more than twice the length of the 

 cell. 



The reproductive cells are ovate, and are shortly pedicled, 

 like the alimentary polyp cells, of which I consider them an 

 in-development-arrested form. Each reproductive cell grows 

 in close proximity to a polyp cell. 



The female cell (fig. 2.) consists of a reproductive polyp (a), 



