﻿April, 1857.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



199 



* Cells of several orders forming groups — great cells of the digestive polyps ficnnel- 

 shaped or campanulate. 



PLUMUL ARIA . Lamarck. 



Syn. Aglaophenia. Lamouroux. 



The polypidom branches regulary, so as to assume a plume-like 

 form, but its tufts appear to be usually of less size than is at- 

 tained in the following genus Aglaophenia. The greater polyp- 

 cells are disposed universally upon the branchlets. The greater 

 cells are not contracted at the mouth, but preserve a funnel-shape 

 broadest at the mouth. There are always present (in species 

 which I think referable to this genus,) two or three, sometimes 

 four secondary cells with each of the cells destined to contain a 

 greater polyp. These together form a characteristic group. So 

 various are these groups among the species included usually 

 under this genus, that I suggest they will furnish the means of 

 subdividing it still further than my actual knowledge has per- 

 mitted me to do at this time. 



The prolific vesicles of Plumaria proper, according to authors, 

 appear to be developed in the axils of the branchlets of the 

 plume, or near the bases of the greater polyps. They are simple 

 like those of Sertularia, which distinguishes them from those of 

 the next genus. 



PLUMULARIA QUADRIDENS, nov. spec. 



The following description is taken from a detached plume found 

 floating in the water. Its height was about a quarter of an inch. 

 The branchlets were alternate. The main stem has a polyp and 

 its cell at the base of each branchlet, and there are from three to 

 four polyps on the branchlet, the last being terminal. Around 

 each polyp-cell and closely connected with it are three secondary 

 cells, one behind and two (one on each side,) in front, that is on 

 the side towards which the recumbent primary cell inclines. 

 Each of these consists of a rather stout pedicle whose base origi- 

 nates near the base of the greater polyp-cell, and whose top is 

 surmounted by a small shallow hemisperical cup, in which is a 

 round fleshy mass, representing, as I suppose, a polyp. Between 

 every two such groups on the stem is a fourth small cell, even 

 less developed than those around the greater polyp, being in- 

 deed scarcely more than a tooth-like process of the stem. What 

 the function of these secondary polyps may be, is an interesting 



