THE SEA MAT. 
365 
in its soft, plumy branches to such an extent that it marches beneath their shade, like 
Macduff s army under its leafy disguise. I know scarcely a more wonderful sight than is 
presented by a living specimen of the Bugula, with its wonderful appendages in full action. 
As if moved by machinery, they nod up and down like automata, sometimes throwing them- 
selves back like the head of a fan-tail pigeon ; the mouth opens slowly, with a wearied kind 
of air, that almost forces the observer to yawn in sympathy with the deliberate movement, 
while ever and anon the jaw suddenly closes with a snap so sharp that the ear instinctively 
watches for the sound. 
Every one who has walked along the sea-shore must have observed the pretty, leaf -like 
Sea Mats strewn on the beach, and admired the wonderful regularity of their structure, pei- 
ceptible to the naked eye ; but when magnified even by a pocket lens, their beauty increases 
in proportion to the power employed, and the marvellous arrangement ol the cells, and the 
orderly system in which they are placed, are almost beyond belief. Beautiful, however, as 
they are in this state, they are but the dead and lifeless habitations of the creatures who built 
the wondrous cells, and the only method of showing the Sea Mat in its full glory, is to take a 
living specimen from the stone or shell to which it is affixed, and watch it under the micro- 
scope while the creatures are still in full activity. The common Sea Mat is sometimes called 
the Hornwrack. 
The peculiar m ann er in which the polypes of the Sea Mat protrude themselves is quaintly 
and accurately described by Mr. Gosse in his “ Evenings at the Microscope.’ After pointing 
out the cradle-like shape of the cells, he proceeds as follows: “Suppose that a coverlid of 
transparent skin were stretched over each cradle from a little within the margin all round, 
leaving a transverse opening just in the right place, viz., over the pillow, and you would have 
exactly what exists here. There is a crescent-form slit in the membrane of the upper part of 
the cell, from which the semicircular edge and lip can recede if pushed from within. 
“ Suppose, yet again, that in every cradle there lies a baby with its little knees bent up 
to its chin, in that zigzag posture that children, little and big, often like to be in. But stay, 
here is a child moving ! Softly and slowly pushes open the semicircular slit in the coverlid, and 
we see him gradually protruding his head and shoulders in an erect position, strengthening 
his knees at the same time. He is raised half out of bed, when lo ! his head falls open, and 
becomes a bell of tentacles. The baby is the tenant polype.” 
The Toothed Sea Mat is a variation with curious tooth-like appendages from which it 
derives its name. 
A curious polyzoon, bearing the name of Carbasea episcopalis , is found in Bass’ s Straits at 
a depth of forty-five fathoms. This species is found in two forms, either parasitic on sertularia 
and various polyzoa, and then of small size, or leading an independent existence, and reaching 
considerable dimensions. It is chiefly remarkable for the singular form of the ovicells, wdiich 
bear a wonderfully close resemblance to bishops’ mitres, and have earned for the species the 
title of episcopalis. 
Two specimens of another genus are called Diachoris magellanicus and Diachoris 
crotali. The latter shows remarkable appendages which guard the mouth ; and the former, 
Diachoris magellanicus , exhibits the method in which each cell, except at the margins of the 
fronds, is connected with six others, something like the stellate cells in pith. In fact, the 
Diachoris is a flustrum dissected, the cells being drawn away from each other and connected 
by stalks. The central cell is by connecting stalks united to the six that surround it. 
Any one who picks up a piece of a dark sea- weed, will find that many parts of its structure 
are covered with a peculiar growth, that looks as if a portion of Sea, Mat had been cemented 
upon it. This substance is indeed closely allied to the Sea Mat, and is chiefly to be distin- 
guished by the membranous nature of the polyzoary, which will not permit it to stand boldy 
erect after the manner of the true Sea Mat. This species is called Membranipora pilosa. 
The feathery plume of tentacles is extremely graceful, and, when the creature is living, 
has a remarkably elegant effect. In a specimen now before me, viewed by a power of only 
thirty diameters attached to the binocular microscope, the polypes of the Membranipora are 
