29 
Dr. Reid on the Development of the Medusae. 
all parts of the external surface, but most frequently near the 
lower part, of the body. On many of the larger larvae several 
buds were seen growing at the same time (fig. 11 a). As a bud 
enlarges it becomes elongated and attenuated at its free extre- 
mity, and bends itself downwards to reach the surface of the 
stone to which the elongated extremity adheres : after this the 
attached end is gradually separated from the body of the parent. 
When thus detached, a small opening presents itself at its upper 
end, its interior gradually becomes hollowed out and cilia grow 
upon it, and tentacula commence to sprout around the mouth, 
exactly in the same manner as in the buds formed on the upper 
surface of the stolons. The outer surface of the buds is also 
covered with very fine cilia. Several of the buds were found 
lying loose at the bottom of the vessels in which the stones are 
kept, probably detached by accident, and these after a time fixed 
themselves to the surftice of the vessels, and passed through 
their development into larvae in the same manner as those that 
adhered for a longer time to the bodies of their parents. One 
of these detached buds fixed itself at two separate points, and 
two mouths, each furnished with its own tentacula, were formed 
at opposite ends of its upper surface. When a bud was deve- 
loped on a stolon, the connecting part between the bud and the 
parent was more frequently absorbed, or at least disappeared, at 
other times the bond of connection remained ; so that occasion- 
ally two, three or more larvae of different or of nearly equal size 
might be seen growing closely united together at the base, as if 
one had split itself longitudinally into two or more separate in- 
dividuals. This chiefly took place when the larvae were so thickly 
clustered together that they had not room to spread sufficiently. 
When the buds were developed into young larvae, these generally 
moved outwards from their parents to a small distance, leaving 
room for those that were to succeed them. This locomotion is 
generally slow, — one larva that I watched moved g^^ths of an 
inch in fourteen days, — and is effected by a sliding motion of 
the attached end over the substance to which it adheres. In this 
motion the attached end bulges outwards in the direction it is 
about to take (fig. 12 a), and the wffiole of this end gradually 
follow’s, carrying of course the wdiole of the upper part of the 
body along w’ith it. More rarely they move more rapidly by 
pushing outwards a narrow prolongation similar to a long sto- 
lon (fig. 4«), which becomes fixed at its further extremity, and 
the attached end becoming loosened, the whole body is carried 
onwards by the contraction of the prolonged part. The older 
larvae are almost or entirely stationary. 
The larvae, when detached from the surface to which they are 
adherent, can again fix themselves. I have frequently performed 
