﻿April, 1857.] elliott society. 185 



I. THAUMANTIADjE. 



This group is distinguished from that which follows by the pos- 

 session of ocelli. The bulbs of the tentacula are smaller than 

 among Eucopidse. The sexual organs occupy a great portion of 

 the extent of the radiate tubes, and the marginal capsules are 

 either absent or exist under a modified form. The other characters 

 of the group appear to be, in the main, such as will be given for 

 Eucopidse. From the case of Tiaropsis, which Prof. Agassiz 

 states is bred from a Campanularia of Boston Harbor, I have 

 placed all these ocellated genera as one of the minor groups of 

 Campanularidae. 



Charleston Harbor has, as yet, furnished no instance of an ocel- 

 lated Exostome. Indeed, in all the opportunities I have had of 

 examining forms belonging to the Sub-order, I have never come 

 across a single instance of a circumscribed pigmentary spot in 

 the outer surface of the tentacular bulb, such as constitutes the 

 ocellus among Endostomata. The tentacular bulbs are on the 

 other hand often highly colored, but this coloration is always 

 easily distinguishable by being situated beneath the transparent 

 parenchyma in the interior of the tentacular bulb, by occupying 

 much more room than is ever appropriated to the true ocellus, and 

 by having its outline gradually shaded off and not clear cut as 

 comparatively it is in the ocellus. It appears to me that Forbes 

 never consistently regarded this distinction. 



II. EUCOFIDiE. 



The form of the disk varies from that of a circular plane, 

 through the hemispherical to the campanulate form, while in one 

 or two instances it is precisely that of an umbrella. Its general 

 characteristic, however, is that of shallowness. The digestive trunk 

 is cylindrical and short, with four or more (?)petaloidlabial tentacula. 

 The number of radiate tubes is probably always limited to four, 

 except in cases of deformity by excess. In their course occur the 

 sexual glands, usually four in number, and sometimes surrounding 

 each a sinus of the radiate tube to which it belongs. The presence 

 of marginal capsules distinguishes the group from that of Thau- 

 mantiadae. Their typical number is eight, but in some genera 

 the number is double or triple the typical number. The typical 

 number of tentacula appears also to be eight, but they vary 

 from four to over a hundred. Their bases have usually the form 

 of pendent bulbs, and the lashes have considerable contractility. 

 There are no ocelli. 

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