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REPORT ON ZOOLOGY, MDCCCXLII : 
a stalk, at the end of which is fixed a polype head, surrounded by five 
or six tentacula, from which hang four four-sided campanulate bodies, 
which he did not consider as organs of the Coryne, but as separate indivi- 
duals. In each corner of the free margin of the campanulate body was 
a red ocellated spot, and in the base of the whole appeared a four-cor- 
nered stomach. These bodies, which had much motion, at last tore 
themselves free, and swam about in the sea like MeduscB. Steenstrup, 
at the same time, recals to mind the CorymorpTia nutans of Sars, which 
bears similar bodies to those of his Coryne fritillaria ; and he deems 
it probable, that the bodies in Corymorpha also separate and become 
changed into free swimming Medusae. Finally, he expresses an opinion, 
that the polype-knobs are only the nurses of the Medusa-like animals, and 
that in Coryne fritillaria and Corymorpha nutans, Sars, the eggs are 
first formed into the bell-shaped individuals after they are separated from 
their nurse, the polype-knob ; whilst in Coryne ecliinata and vulgaris, 
Wagn., and in Syncoryne ramosa, Sars, the eggs are already developed 
in the campanulate bodies, before they have left the polype-knobs. 
Van Beneden has described a polype, connecting the Actinia and 
Hydra, under the name of Hydractinia (Bull, de I’Acad. Voy. d. Sc. 
de Brux. t. viii. f. 1, p. 89, and ITnstit. 1841, p. 166). 
Quatrefages has found an almost microscopic polype, of^a millimetre 
in diameter, on the French coast, in a slough among sea-plants, and has 
made it known as Eleutheria dichotoma (Ann. d. Sc. Natur. t. 18, 
1842, p. 270). It is destitute of feet, but moves freely about with its 
branchy arms. The following are its generic characters : — Without feet, 
eye-points on the basis of the arms. The specific character is : — 
Body hemispherical, of a yellow colour, and sprinkled with red points on 
its posterior and under side, six double forked tentacula, which end in 
roundish swellings. The animal lives on small Crustacea, and quickly 
contracts itself on being touched. The cuticular covering is full of pe- 
culiar cells (poison-organs), from which a fine prickle projects. They 
chiefly abound on the swellings of the arms. The cavity of the arms 
communicates with that of the simple stomach. The eggs are de- 
veloped in the under part of the body, between the cuticular covering 
and the bottom of the stomach; they have a spherical shape, but no 
germ pustules can be detected within them. 
Hassall has investigated a great number of LepralicB, in their various 
stages of life, according to locality, age, &c. ; and has described six new 
species, — Lepralia semilunaris, auriculata, ventricosa, tenuis, assimilis, 
and ovalis (Ann. Nat. Hist. ix. p. 407). 
Landsborough, who has made many experiments on the phosphores- 
cence of the Sertularice (ibid. viii. p. 257, and Fror. Neue Notiz. Bd. 21, 
p. 83), has discovered, that on shaking, under water, Valcheria cuscu- 
ta, Sertularia polyzonias, Cellulccria reptans, Laomedea geniculata, 
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