230 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
tlieir branches, whence the polypes issue, being enlarged into a bell-like 
shape, whence their name. G. dielioloma is at once the most delicate 
and most elegant of the species. It presents a brownish stem, thin as a 
thread of silk, but strong and elastic. The polypes are numerous : 
upon a tree eight or nine inches high there maybe as many hundreds. 
G. voMrilis is a minute microscopic species, living parasitically on 
corallines, sea-weed, and shelled animals. The; stem is a capillary 
corneous tube, which creeps and twists itself upon its support, throwing 
out at alternate intervals a long slender stalk, twisted throughout 
or only partially, 'which supports a bell-shaped cup of perfect trans- 
parency, and prettily serrated round the brim. Dr. Johnston found 
the antennas of a crab so profusely infested with them as to resemble 
hairy brushes. It is furnished, according to Hassall, with a delicate 
joint or hinge at the base of each little cup — a contrivance designed, 
it is imagined, to enable the frail zoopliyto the better to elude the 
rude contact of the element in which it lives, by allowing it to bend 
to a force which it cannot resist. 
The Campanularim increase by budding ; the buds being found in 
much the same manner as in the Hydra;. It is a simple excrescence, 
which, in due time, takes the form of the branch from which it 
proceeds. These buds have their birth at certain distances, and form 
a polypier. 
SlPHONOPHOEA. 
Alongside the Medusa; naturalists place certain marine zoophytes 
which are equally remarkable for their beauty and for their curious 
structure, the latter being so complicated that their true organization 
long remained unknown. They were known, until very recently, under 
the designation of Hydrostatic Acalephse, or Hydra-medusa;. They a re 
known in our days as Siphonophorae. These inhabitants of the deep 
are graceful in form, and are distinguished by their delicate tissues and 
brilliant colours. Essentially swimmers, supported by one or many 
vessels filled with air— true swimming-bladders, more or less nu- 
merous, and of- variable form — they float upon the waves, remaining 
always on the surface, whatever may be the state of the sea. They 
are natural skiffs, and quite incapable of immersion. The Siphonophora 
form four orders or families ; namely, the Diphjclw, double-bell shape* 
