Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/123

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MARINE ZOOLOGY bed tentacles, the latter being dispersed over the body and numbering about nine- teen. Colour semi-translucent white with opaque white dots. The polypary expands over the base of the polypite, below which it is plain or very slightly undulatory, and throughout the lower three-fourths of the stem it is lightly annulated. The polypary is colourless or of a faint buff shade. Upon Tuhularia indivisa. Hastings. 4. Coryne vaginata^ Hincks. Zoophite 3 inches high, in form resem- bling a spruce fir tree ; polypite naked, rose-coloured, with tentacles scattered as in Clava, but short and knobbed at the ends ; gonophores oval and borne amongst the tentacles. Common in rock pools, often densely covered with confervse. Hastings. EUDENDRIID^ 5. Eudendrtum rameum Pallas. Polypite naked, tentacles forming a ring This zoophyte has been aptly compared to a stunted and weather-beaten tree. The stem and main branches are compound, and when covered with the round and orange- coloured gonophores the colony might be likened to a shrub laden with berries. The gonophores are generally borne upon the caenosarc. Common in the trawl from the Diamond Ground and moderately deep water. Hastings. 6. Eudendrtum ramosum, Linnaeus. This species suggests a collection of branching twigs. The stem is formed of a single tube, both it and the branches being of a straight and straggling character and of a glossy brown colour. No gono- phores observed. Common upon scallops and rock from deep water. Hastings. 7. Perigonhnus repens, Wright. Polypite with a single circle of tentacles distant from the mouth ; polypary rather coarse, of a red-brown colour, and ex- panded over the base of polypite to form a rough cup. Taken upon shell of Nucula nucleus, in association with Lovenella clausa. Coralline zone ; rare. Hastings. 8. Garveia nutans, Wright. This species requires more than a pass- ing notice. The only localities given for it by Hincks are Inchgarvie, Firth of Forth, and Shetland. It has been taken some three or four times offshore at Hast- ings, upon all occasions climbing over Hy- drallmania and throwing up short branches, and not as figured by Hincks from northern specimens with erect and compound stem. The polypites have a single circle of ten- tacles and there is a gradual expansion of the polypary over the base of the polypite. Branches flexuous. The polypites them- selves are conspicuous by their colour, which is orange or carrot colour, and which also extends to the coenosarc. The gono- phores are likewise orange coloured and are given off from the creeping stolon, emerg- ing from an expansion of the polypary. The Hastings specimens agree fairly well with Hincks' description, but differ in the matter of the compound and erect stem, and in the fact that the polypites were not noticed to nod, from which peculiarity the species takes its name. Somewhat rare. Hastings. TuBULARIIDjE g. Tuhularia indivisa, Linnxus. Polypite naked with two crowns of tentacles, the one oral and the other ab- oral, or midway down the body. Among the latter are borne the gonophores in grape-like bunches. The empty polypar- ium tubes much resemble tufts of stubble. Not a shore species ; the finest specimens are obtained from moderately deep water. Common off Hastings. 10. Tuhularia larynx, Ellis and Solander. Except as regards size and habitat there seems little to distinguish this species from T. coronata. The Hastings specimens are very faintly annulated, and little or no branching can be detected. The polypites are naked, transparent, very finely spangled with opaque white ; gonophores round to oval and borne upon short branched pe- duncles. The gonophores and manubrium are rose-coloured, and the former have from not any to four tubercles at their distal ends. The gonozooid or extrusion is oval, con- stricted at the basal end, with twelve long ab-oral tentacles, sometimes less, clubbed at the ends and alternately raised and lowered, by which means this star-like creature stalks about, as upon stilts. At the oral end there are invariably four short thick tentacles, curved inwards. The creature having no bell seems awkward and sluggish, and is apparently intermediate be- tween the fixed and freed forms. This species only visits Hastings in occasional years. In 1897 it appeared in great pro- fusion upon rocks and stones from mid to low tide. Hastings. 77