OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. 



described. A common example of this class is the 

 Alyconium digit atum^ looking like a mass of short 

 fingers, when the final florets are closed, as its spe- 

 cific name imports, being sometimes called, by the 

 fishermen of our northern coasts, Dead-men's-toes. 

 Each finger-like cell contains a separate creature, 

 whose tentacles, when expanded, form the floret, 

 after the manner of those of the Sea-Anemonies, but 

 yet each separate creature is vitally attached to a 

 central polypidom, or spine, which binds the whole 

 group into one existence. 



Of this class are the curious JPennatulidce^ one 

 of which is commonly known as the Sea-Pen. The 

 three species of this class of Folyps known to in- 

 habit the British seas, are so distinct from each 

 other that they form at the same time three dis- 

 tinct genera. The most beautiful of the three is 

 the Fennatula jphosphorea^ the Sea-Pen, which is 

 not uncommon on some parts of our northern 

 coasts. It is represented in Plate VII. The pur- 

 ple branches, or pinnae, of the upper portion, form 

 the feathered part of the quill pen to which it is 

 likened; the bare portion of the polypidom below 

 having certainly some resemblance to the quill. 

 This curious zoophytic form is often seen in an 

 erect position, planted, as it were, in the mud like 



61 



