PENNATULA, SEA PEN. 
T HE Oriental Pennatula, or Silver Sea Pen, of which there is a fpecimen 
in the British Museum, broughc from Batavia, has fo much the general 
a Ppearance and fize of a large quill, or writing pen, as from that circumftance to have 
§!ven a general name to all the animals of the kind, though many of them have little 
0r no refemblance to that idea. The comely fwell of body which that reprefented in 
the Plate difplays, and the luxuriant fpread of living plumage wherewith it is feathered 
0y er, prefents us with fuch an elegant combination of beautiful forms, as cannot be 
a dequately defcribed by any likenefs to either a feather or a flower. The great variety 
°f the different fpecies of thefe animals is as yet indefinite, and may continue fo for 
a ges, as the deep flill teems with undefcribed produftions. 
Mr. Ellis collected, from different quarters of the world, at leaf! a dozen kinds, 
Elates of which were engraved for the Philosophical Transactions ; and they 
ar e arranged and defcribed in his Hiftory of Zoophytes. The general definitions 
there given of this genus of animals, involving a more general knowledge of dieir na- 
ture than could perhaps be drawn from any individual, afford the following extracts ; 
v ''hich may inform thofe that are unacquainted with longer works on the fubject of 
the character attained by thefe Floating Systems of luminous Flowers. 
C£ They differ remarkably from all other Zoophytes, by fwimming freely about in 
the fea, and having a mufcular motion as they fwim along. They are of many 
Shapes, having in general a flefhy Item, with a bone in the infide to fupport it. 
h hey f en d forth branches from the ftem, terminating in polype -like mouths fur- 
tounded by claws. The lower part of the ftem is bare; but it does not appear 
that any of them fix themfelves by their bafe, as do the Actinea ; for they have no 
°P e ning at the bottom, as was formerly thought, nor any other paffage, but through 
'•heir polype mouths ; by thefe they take in their food, and through thefe they produce 
their eggs. 
4 
. “ They have the remarkable property of fending forth a ftrong pholphorial light 
lta the fea. Dr. Shaw obferves, that on the coaft of Algiers they illume the deep 
' Vl th fo great a light in the night, that the fifhermen can diftinguilb the fifli, as they 
VVlrn , by it, fo as to know where to caft their nets. 
Z “ The 
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