- 
27 
Tjeneste. Han formener da, at et Parti af dem skulde ud- 
føre Secretionsorganets Rolle, imedens et andet kunde fun- 
gere som Lunger. ; 
Ifølge vore Undersøgelser, som rigtignok ere foretagne 
paa et enkelt Exemplar, opbevaret i Spiritus, hvilket dog 
blev observeret og tegnet i levende Liv. antage vi, at de 
heromhandlede Organer hos Hamingia ere analoge med 
Holothuridernes saakaldte Lunger; men som vi for, Molpa- 
didernes Vedkommende have paavist at være Tarmappen- 
dices (Secretionsorganer), der intet have med Respirationen 
at bestille. At disse Organer hos Hamingia ogsaa ere Af- 
sondringsapparater og ikke Lunger, synes at fremgaa ikke 
alene af deres Bygning, men ogsaa af den Omstændighed, 
at de ikke staa i nogen Forbindelse med Blodeireulationen. 
I det Døgn, Dyret blev observeret i levende Liv, 
aabnede Kloakaabningen sig kun saa ofte Excrementerne 
bleve udstødte; noget Søvand kunde ikke trænge ind igjen- 
nem den ved en stærk Sphincter lukkede Aabning, ligesom 
Endetarmen og Kloaken viste sig at være propfulde af de 
før beskrevne Excrementer. Men det staar ikke til at 
nægte, at de her omtalte Organer ere noget forskjellige fra 
Holothuridernes benævnte Lunger. Disse, der hovedsagelig 
bestaa 1 større og mindre Samlinger at blæreformige Blind- 
sække, staa ikke 1 nogen directe Communication med Krops- 
hulhedens Fluidum. Sagtens yttrer Semper, at han for- 
mener at have iagttaget en Aabning paa Blererne; men 
ingen anden Forsker har observeret dette. 
«Hos vor nye Slægt er der ligesom hos Bonellia en 
tragtformig, vid Aabning paa de beskrevne slangeformige 
Rør, forsynet med lange Cilier, hvori Kropsvædsken efter 
al Sandsynlighed optages; men om den saaledes optagne 
Kropsvædske undergaar paa denne Vei nogen Forandring, 
eller om den atter jages ud i Hulheden, se det er et Spørgs- 
maal, vi ikke kunne besvare, da vi dertil ikke have havt 
Materiale nok. Men skulle vi indlade os paa en Hypothese, 
saa var det den, at disse Organer, som vi antage for Secre- 
tionsorganer, tjene til at rense og forsaavidt ogsaa til at 
fornye Kropsvædsken; de virke, om man saa vil, som et 
Slags Nyrer. 
Circulationssystemet. 
Vore Undersøgelser over Kredslobet ere vistnok ufuld- - 
stændige; men Skylden herfor tør mest ligge i det mangel- 
fulde Materiale. 
Naar Dyret er aabnet fra Rygsiden, iagttages paa 
Mundhulbedens ydre Flade en korktrækkerformig, hvid, 
glindsende Kanal, der er Rygkarret, Fig. 6, «x. Dette 
løber fortil langs Mundhulhedens Rygflade, lige til dennes 
forreste Ende, hvor det deler sig i to Grene, en til hver 
Side. Det tiltager i Tykkelse, alt eftersom det kommer 
længere bag mod Svælget, og er slangeformig bugtet, saa- 
lenge det løber paa Mundhulheden, Fig. 14, a. Naar det 
forlader denne, bliver det tykkere, næsten lige, gaar under 
his opinion, perform the office of a secretory organ, and 
the other that of lungs. 
Our own results, based, it is true, on the examination 
of a single specimen, preserved in spirits, which was how- 
ever observed and figured while alive, lead us to regard 
the aforesaid organs in Hamingia as the analogue of the 
so-called “lungs,” or “respiratory trees,” in the Holothwriude, 
but which, in the case of the Molpadide, we have shown 
to be intestinal appendages (a secretory apparatus); having 
nothing whatever to do with respiration. And that these 
organs in Hamingia are in like manner endowed with a 
secretory, and not a respiratory function, may be inferred, 
not only from their structure, but also from the fact of 
their being nowise connected with the circulation of the 
blood. 
During the 24 hours the animal was kept alive, the 
cloacum was never once seen to open, save for the discharge 
of the fæces. A powerful sphincter, which closes up the 
aperture, effectually prevented the ingress of sea-water; and 
besides, the rectum and the cloacum were both found to 
be full of the fecal pellets described above. Mean- 
while, it is not to be denied, that the organs in question 
differ somewhat from those termed “lungs,” or “respiratory 
trees,’ in the Holothurude. The latter, chiefly consisting 
of larger and smaller assemblages of vesicular ceca, have | 
no direct communication with the fluid of the perivisceral 
cavity. True, Semper alleges to have observed an opening 
on the surface of the vesicles, but no other zoologist has 
recorded its occurrence. 
In our new genus, as in Bonellia, the sinuous tubes 
described above exhibit a wide, funnel-shaped aperture, 
furnished with long cilia, in all probability for the recep- 
tion of the perivisceral fluid; but whether this fluid undergo 
any change on its passage, or be again ejected into the 
hollow of the body, is a question we are not at present 
prepared to answer, having lacked sufficient- materials for 
conclusively deciding it. But were we to venture an hypo- 
thetical explanation, it would be this, that the organs in 
question, whose function we regard as secretory, serve to 
purify, and so far therefore to renew, the perivisceral fluid; 
their action being, we may say, nephritic. 
Circulatory System. 
Our investigation of this system in Hamingza is de- 
cidedly incomplete; but this will, we trust, be found to 
arise chiefly from insufficiency of materials. 
On opening the animal on the dorsal side, a 
glistening, spirally twisted canal is seen extending along 
the outer surface of the buccal cavity. This is the dorsal 
vessel, fig. 6, x, which passes forward along the dorsal 
surface of the buccal cavity straight to its anterior term- 
ination, where it divides into 2 branches, one on either 
side. It increases in thickness the nearer it approaches 
the gullet, and retains a sinuous course on the buccal ca- 
vity, fig. 14, a, after crossing which it grows thicker, and 
4* 
white, 
