178 
Z. ASTEROIDA, 
Pennatula. 
regular and synchronous pulsations of the minute fringed arms of the 
whole polypi.” And Bohadsch asserts that he has been a witness of 
this spectacle. “ Deget nostrum Zoophyton in altiori mari, ubi in- 
terdum cum aliis piscibus capitur. Dum versus maris superficiem 
fertur, bullulse innumerse corpus ejus circumdant, quee stellarum instar 
de die splendent ; id quidem non hac occasione, sed anno 1749, dum 
Liburno Marsiliam versus per mare proficiscerer, observavi. Quo 
tempore in historia naturali minime versatus corpus bullulis nitens ad 
quatuor circiter pedes infra superficiem. maris conspiciens e nautis 
quaesivi, quidnam rei esset ? qui Pennam esse pro responso dedere.” 
An. Mar. p. 107 — Linnaeus had therefore some grounds for inserting 
the “ phosphorescent Sea-Pens, which cover the bottom of the ocean, 
and there cast so strong a light, that it is easy to count the fishes and 
worms of various kinds sporting among them” — amongst the most 
memorable productions in Nature. See Smith’s Tracts relating to 
Nat. History, p. 43. But some authors, as Lamarck and Schweigger ? 
reasoning from what is known regarding other compound animals, 
have denied the existence of this great locomotive power in a zoo- 
phyte placed so low in the scale, as contrary to every analogy, and 
not necessary to the existence or wants of the animal. And there 
is little doubt these naturalists are right, for, when placed in a basin 
or plate of sea-water, the Pennatulse are never observed to change 
their position, but they remain on the same spot, and lie with the 
same side up or down just as they have been put in. They inflate 
the body until it becomes in a considerable degree transparent, and 
only streaked with interrupted lines of red ; they distend it more at 
one place and contract it at another ; they spread out the pinnae, and 
the polypes expand their tentacula, but still they never attempt to 
swim or perform any effort towards locomotion. Our fishermen 
believe that they are fixed at the bottom with their ends immersed in 
the mud, and the paleness of the base, when viewed in connection 
with the preceding observations, go far, in my opinion, to prove this 
statement to be correct. “ Si les pennatules nagent aussi,” says 
Blainville, “ ce dont je doute un peu, quoiqu’elles rampent tres-lente- 
ment, c’est peut*etre en chassant le fluide qui est entre dans leur 
systeme acquifere, plutot qu’a l’aide des pinnules polypiferes.”-— Ac- 
tinolog. p. 83. 
As the name imports, this Pennatula is a phosphorescent animal, 
but the light, of a faint blue colour, is emitted only under circum- 
stances that tend to shew that the polypes have felt some painful ir„ 
ritation which they would drive away by the dread influence of their 
tiny lamps. I have repeatedly kept living specimens for several days 
