551 
PENN i 
the former. When this zone becomes very much con- 
ftrifted on every fide, the trunk above it fwells and ac¬ 
quires the form of an onion; and then it appears as if a 
compreffed globe moved along through the whole fpace 
of the trunk ; this conftri&ion of the trunk gives that 
fine red colour to the zone; for, when the fkin of the trunk 
is outwardly full of purple papillae, the intermediate 
fpaces are of a whitilh colour. In this conftri&ion then 
of the Ikin, the intermediate fpaces are obliterated, and 
the papillae are brought nearer together; confequently 
only the purple colour prefents itfelf to the eye, and ap¬ 
pears more bright. The end or apex of the naked trunk 
is fometimes curved like a hook, and fometimes extended 
in a right line ; both thefe motions then mud be direfted 
by the little bone in the infide, and from this motion of 
this little internal bone, that finus or cavity at the lower 
end of the trunk (thought by authors heretofore to be 
the mouth) feeins plainly to be formed; for fometimes it 
is deeper, fometimes Shallower ; it is deeper while the 
movable globe appears in the middle of the pinnated part 
of the trunk, and fhallower when it is in the bottom of 
the naked trunk, at which time the bone is moft extended. 
The fins, or pinnulae, have four different motions ; they 
are moved both towards the naked Item, and towards the 
pinnated ftem; and fometimes they are drawn in very 
much to the belly, a little after they are inclined to the 
back; further, the flefhy filaments or claws move in all 
directions, and the cylindrical part with the filaments is 
either extended out or drawn in and hid in the fins.” 
4. Pennatula filofa, the eye-fucker: ftem a little flefhy, 
with a rib feathered on each fide, and furnifhed with two 
filiform tentacula at the bafe. It inhabits the European 
feas, and is from four to fix inches long. 
Mr. Baker, author of Effays on the Microfcope, has de- 
fcribed a worm which is faid to have been a mutilated 
fpecimen of this fpecies. “I was lately prefented (he 
fays) with a couple of fmall fea-infefts, by a gentleman, 
who faid they were found fixed by the fnout to the eyes 
offprats; that they are often obferved flicking there, and 
may confequently be fuppofed to fuck their nourifhment 
from thence. The length of this little creature, from end 
to end, is near three inches, of which the head is about 
one quarter-part. Its body is fomewhat thicker than a 
hog’s briftle, and of a pleafant green colour. A gut feems 
running through it, and terminates at the anus. The 
iiead is light brown, twice the thicknefs of the body, and 
of an oblong figure, tapering towards the fnout. It has 
a pair of fine fmall black eyes, and a couple of holes, at 
fome diftance forwards, which probably are its noftrils. 
But the moft remarkable part of the head is its probofcis, 
or fnout; which is nearly half its length, and does not 
end in a point, but fpreads at its extremity with a confi- 
derableaperture. This fnout appears of a horny fubftance, 
and has on every fide feveral large knobs or protuberances, 
by which, when onceinfinuated into the filh’s eye, it muft 
neceffarily be fixed there, fo as noteafily to be removed.” 
5. Pennatula rubra, the Italian fea-pen : ftem flefhy, 
with a broad tuberculate midrib; the ramifications are im¬ 
bricate, with each a fhort fpine at the bafe. The Italian 
fea-pen differs from the Britifh fo much, that there is no 
room to doubt but they are very different fpecies. The 
Britifh is much longer, more (lender, and not fo flefhy, as 
the Italian ; but the broad warted midrib, and fpiny fins, 
of the latter, diltinguifh it plainly; befides, the denticles 
are placed fo thick as to appear like a double row. This 
varies in colour from a deep red to a pale red. It inha-' 
bits the Mediterranean. The fpecimen defcribed and 
figured by Mr. Baker (Phil. Tranf. vol. xliii.) was pre¬ 
fented to him by Mr. Pennant. The figure, however, we 
have not copied, being fully perfuaded it belongs not to 
this fpecies, nor even to the genus. It is luminous in a 
high degree, like the phofphorea and feveral other of the 
Pennatulas. 
6. Pennatula mirabilis, the ftrange fea-pen : ftem long 
and (lender, the midrib pennated on both fides; the pin- 
Tol. XIX. No. 1324. 
L T U L A. 
nee or fins placed alternate, and at a diftance from each 
other, and fhaped like a half-moon, each ramification con¬ 
fiding of eight filaments. 
This fpecies, which is rather a group, or chain, than an 
individual animal, was firft feen alive by Otto Frederic 
Muller, author of the Zoologia Danica ; and from that 
work our defcription and the annexed figures are col¬ 
lected. Linnaeus and Pallas had both examined the dead 
fubjeft in the mufeum of the king of Sweden ; Linnaeus 
has delineated it in the Mufasum Ad. Fr. and Ellis has 
copied his figure into the Philofophical Tranfaftions, 
vol. liii. t. 20. fig. 17. Linnaeus’s defcription of it in 
the Amcenitates and in the Mufeo is embarrafled and in¬ 
accurate; for in the former he calls it a filiform briftle, 
ftift', about half a foot in length, to which are attached 
lunated cilia of a tranfparent whitenefs, and turned to 
either fide; while, in the latter w’ork, he fays that it is in 
a great degree allied to the phofphorea; whereas it is in 
fad totally different from the Pennatula phofphorea, or 
at lead only agrees with it in having an ojficulum, or little 
bone, attached to its extremity. Hence Dr. Pallas 
doubts whether we fhould not rather place it among the 
Gorgonia ; but its calcareous bone, its flefhy parenchyma, 
and its diftinft polypi, evidently indicate its fituation to 
be among the Pennatulae. 
The racliis, or round bone, is uniform in thicknefs 
through the greater part of its length, truncated at both 
ends, and of an orange colour ; flexible while frefh, but 
brittle when old, fo that it fnaps under the nail like a 
thin bit of ivory. A flefhy parenchyma inverts the whole 
of it except its apex; and from the face to the apex azure- 
coloured, lunated, and polypetalous, lamina, fprout out 
alternately. The margin of thefe lamina, which is turned 
towards the bafe, is ftudded with cylindrical polypi; each 
confifting of as many tentaculas. The ftem, or bone, is 
calcareous, while its covering and the polypiferous la¬ 
minae are of a flefhy and gelatinous fubftance. The ba¬ 
fts or extremity, fixed by the flefhy parenchyma into a 
clayey foil, is ferrated and thick, and in that part the po¬ 
lypi are not evolved ; but about half an inch from it they 
begin to appear, and fixty or feventy tufts of them may 
be numbered on each fide. Hence it refults that the in- 
creafe of the ofliculum and the polypi takes place, not to¬ 
wards the apex but in the direction of the bafe, and that 
part of the ofliculum is developed before either the flefhy 
parenchyma or the polypes. 
When out of the water, the polypi contract, and the 
bone is feen covered by the flefhy fubftance; when, how¬ 
ever, water is poured on them, the lamina and the tenta¬ 
cula both expand, and prefent a beautiful fpe&acle. 
They inhabit the American, Atlantic, and Norwegian, 
feas; from the latter of which, particularly from the clay 
in a creek of Chriftiana called Sand pollen, O. F. Muller 
dragged feveral of them alive. On the annexed Plate, 
fig. 1, is reprefented a fpecimen containing more than a 
hundred clufters of the polypi of the natural fize; fig. 2. 
a piece of the fame, magnified. 
7. Pennatula fagitta, the arrow fea-pen : ftem filiform, 
with clofe-fet ramifications, and naked at the tip. It in¬ 
habits the Ocean; and, according to Linnaeus, is found 
flicking in the Lophius hiftrio, or fpotted toad-fiih, hav¬ 
ing its ftem pierced into their fides. Mr. Eilis fuppofes 
it to be merely a variety of the preceding. 
8. Pennatula antennina, the peacock-fifli fea-pen: 
ftem fingle ; the midrib fquare, and full of polype like 
fuckers on three fides. This extraordinary fea-pen was 
difcovered by Dr. Bohadfch, of Prague, while he was 3t 
Naples in the year 1757. He fays, when it was brought 
to him, it was two feet ten inches long, and very poflibly 
had been much longer, as it was broken off at the bafe. 
The bone, which was fquare, was covered over with a 
yellowifh membrane, dotted with red ; and three fides of 
the upper part of the trunk were covered with tentacles, 
the fourth bare. He fays he numbered them, and 
found 1310; and that thefe tentacles are not drawn in, as 
7 B in 
