232 
Z. HELIANTHOIDA. 
Lucernaria. 
ginous lamina which rises up the short peduncle, and forms a minute 
hollow firm centre. The margin of the oval expansion is somewhat 
thickened, and divided into eight equal arms, each furnished with a 
tuft of numerous short tentacula tipped with a gland, and brighter 
coloured than the body. The interior is hollowed like the blossom 
of a flower, the square extensible mouth projecting in the centre ,* 
and in the space between the arms there is a complicated structure 
composed apparently of two series of foliaceous processes arranged on 
each side of a white line that seems to spring from the sides of the 
mouth. These processes are formed by the complicated foldings of 
a thin membrane attached by one side in the manner of a mesentery ; 
there are no vessels in the membrane, but some portions of it exhi- 
bit, when magnified, a kind of net-work of irregular cells, and the 
outer and free edge is bounded by a thread-like line. The white cen- 
tral line which divides them is formed of small roundish bodies ar- 
ranged in two or three close series ; and some of these ova can at 
times be traced along the margin of the circumference to the tenta- 
cula. The latter are cylindrical and terminated with a globular head, 
which is seemingly imperforate. The stomach is a loose thin plait- 
ed extensible bag, having attached to its inner surface numerous fili- 
form caeca, (Fig. c ) that, after their removal from the body, retain 
their irritability for a long time, and writhe themselves like a knot of 
worms. — Dr Coldstream has favoured me with the following obser- 
vations on the habits of this Lucernaria. — “ I find the animal very 
hardy. It is constantly in a state of expansion, and does not contract 
excepting when very rudely handled. One specimen has lived with 
me for three weeks although the water has not been very often 
changed. When I first procured it, the two rows of spots running 
from the mouth along each arm were prominent, and of a dark red- 
dish-brown colour. Since that time they have increased in size, and 
have become studded with numerous white oval bodies which I sup- 
pose to be ova. I see some of these have made their way into the 
web connecting the arms, but I have not observed any expelled from 
the body.”— -5th April 1833. 
Observations. 
The Lucernariae are of a gelatinous consistence. The skin or co- 
rium is smooth and thickish. After covering and giving form to the 
body it is reflected over the oral disk, and encloses, within the dupli- 
cature formed by this reflection, the internal viscera. The body is 
more or less distinctly campanulate, and is prolonged inferiorly into 
a pedicle, very variable in length, which has its bottom conformed 
into a small sucker. From this point four ligaments, probably of a 
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