. The animal life of our seashore. With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island. Marine animals. sqmnTs, polyps, and jelly-fishes. 57 In the tangle of eel-grass which here and there shows itself you may have had occasion to notice that many of the blades are encased in a gelatinous or slimy substance, whose surface exhibits beautiful stellate impressions or markings. The whole encrusting mass is a compound tunicate or ascidian, the rays of the different stars being the individuals that make up the colony. The sharp eye, or, still better, a magnifier, wil
. The animal life of our seashore. With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island. Marine animals. sqmnTs, polyps, and jelly-fishes. 57 In the tangle of eel-grass which here and there shows itself you may have had occasion to notice that many of the blades are encased in a gelatinous or slimy substance, whose surface exhibits beautiful stellate impressions or markings. The whole encrusting mass is a compound tunicate or ascidian, the rays of the different stars being the individuals that make up the colony. The sharp eye, or, still better, a magnifier, will detect in each ray a minute speck, which corresponds to the incurrent opening in the com- mon sea-squirts, and through which the water passes in the ordinary fashion. In the centre of the star is a second speck, which is the common excurrent aperture for the different individuals of the group. Although much reduced in size, this compound tunicate, known as Botryllus, is constructed on the same general plan as the larger forms above described. In color it varies con- siderably, but generally it is of a livid green or a slimy white. Another interesting form which can be sometimes found in the grass occurs in more or less globular or flattened jelly-like masses, ranging in size from an orange to a big cake, and having a color much like that of boiled salt pork, whence the name ' sea-pork.' The stellate. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Heilprin, Angelo, 1853-1907. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company
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