ACALEPHZE. 
229 
a ppearance ; it is now a compound polypier. The tulx; is branched, 
and the orifices from which the polypes expand usually dilate into 
c ups or cells, 'this is the condition of the Tululari-campanulariadm 
groups, which are numerous round our own coast and in the Channel. 
Tile Tubularia are plant-like and horny, rooted by fibres, tubular, and 
filled with a semi-fluid organic pulp ; polypes naked and fleshy, pro- 
truding from the extremity of every branchlet of the tube, and armed 
with one or tw r o circles of smooth filiform tentacles ; bulbules soft 
and naked, germinating from the base of the tentacles ; embryo 
rrredusiform. “ Some modem authors,” says Frldol, “ assure us that 
tfie tree-like form of these polvpiers is a degraded and transitory 
f °rm of the Medusa;. The Medusa originates the polypier, the poly- 
Pfor becomes a medusa.” Tubularia ramea so perfectly resembles an 
°ld tree in miniature, deprived of its leaves, that it is difficult to 
believe it is not of a vegetable origin ; it is now a vigorous tree in 
miniature, in full flower, rising from the summit of a brown-spotted 
ste ru, with many branches and tufted shoots, terminating in so many 
bydras of a beautiful yellow or brilliant red. T. ramosa, of a brownish 
Wj l°ur and homy substance, rising six inches, is rooted by tortuous, 
Crinkled fibres, with flexible, smooth, and thread-like shoots, branching 
fofo a doubly permeate form. In T. indivisa the tubes are clustering ; 
lts numerous stems are homy, yellow, and from six to twelve inches 
lu height, about a line in diameter, and marked with unequal knots 
fo° m space to space, like the stalk of the oat-straw with the joints 
cut off. Their lower extremity is tortuous, attaching itself readily to 
s hells and stones in deep water, flourishing in deep muddy bottoms, 
ai fo upright as a flower, fixed by the tapering root-like terminations of 
horny tube : a flowering animal, having, however, neither flower 
'Jur branch. At the summit, of each stem, a double scarlet corolla is 
t 6Ve l°ped of f tom live to thirty-five petals, in rows, the external one 
Reading, those in the interior rising in a tuft ; a little below, the 
° Va rium appears, drooping when ripe like a bunch of orange-coloured 
jp apes. After a time the petals of the corolla fade, fall, and die, and a 
replaces them, which produces a new polype ; and so on. This suc- 
‘-j'Ssion determines the length of the stem. Each apparent flower 
' ar °ws out a small tube, which terminates it, and each addition adds 
°’ le joint more to the axis, which it increases in length. 
Tlle Campanulariae differ considerably from the above, the ends of 
