Lepralia. 
Z. ASCIDIOIDA. 
279 
Crust spreading-, rather thick, adherent, even, often roughened in 
the centre, greyish -white, dull, the space between the cells closely 
punctured like the end of a thimble ; cells immersed, cylindraceous 
or somewhat ventricose, arranged in regular rows divided by a raised 
line very obvious in recent specimens, the apertures roundish or se- 
mioval, plain or with a small tooth on the upper edge, and in some 
cells two short blunt teeth are visible on the upper lip. Opercu* 
la pearly, globular, smooth. When dry the crust can in some in- 
stances be separated from its foreign base in small pieces, but in ge- 
neral it is very firmly adherent, and has a decided tendency to grow 
in a circular form. In a very fine specimen which Mr Bean submit- 
ted to my examination, the space between the cells was not punctur- 
ed, but merely rough or frosted, which I attribute rather to accident, 
or to a difference produced in drying, than to any specific character in 
the zoophyte. 
* * Margin of the aperture spinous. 
4. L. ciliata, cells ovato-globose, frosted, the aperture con- 
tracted , circular , armed with from 5 to 7 long spines. Pallas. 
Plate xxxiv. Fig. 6. 
Eschara ciliata, Pall. Elench. 38 Cellepora ciliata, Lin. Syst. 1286. 
Fabric. Faun. Groenl. 434. Bose, Vers, iii. 147. Corall. 41 
Berenicea utriculata, Flem. Br. Anim. 533. Johnston in Trans. Newc. 
Soc. ii. 268, pb 12, fig. 6, (not good.) 
Uab. On shells and stones from deep water, common. 
The crust is always white, spreading circularly, thin and closely 
adherent, so that it cannot be removed entire from its foreign base. 
“ The cells appear as unconnected though adjacent/’ and their aper- 
tures look upwards. The aperture is encircled, for about two-thirds 
of its circumference, with from 5 to 7 spines almost as long as the cell 
itself, but they are of unequal lengths, and are so easily broken off 
that it is rare to find them perfect (very often no vestige of them is 
visible) excepting near the margin of the crust, or when this lies 
protected by some inequality of the surface which it grows upon. 
I have seen many specimens of this species in the form of a calca- 
reous compressed mass hispid on both sides with the teeth of the 
cells, which were aggregated in a double layer. These masses re- 
semble some specimens of Cellepora pumicosa, or rather of Mem- 
branipora pilosa, and are proof that the distinctions between the ge- 
nera are but of secondary importance, as Blainville has properly re- 
marked. 
