Rare and remarkable animals of Scotland, represented from living subjects: with practical observations on their nature . s; and it is not to be denied that superficial views havemisled many naturalists. The presence or absence of an organ, the posi-tion and number of the various parts, their supposed use, their transienceor permanence, have been all leading guides. Varieties are determinedfrom the fainter differences. The Sertularia abietina is thus named from its resemblance to somekind of fir, in conformity with the practice of comparing objects lessknown to those more familiar. It rises nin
Rare and remarkable animals of Scotland, represented from living subjects: with practical observations on their nature . s; and it is not to be denied that superficial views havemisled many naturalists. The presence or absence of an organ, the posi-tion and number of the various parts, their supposed use, their transienceor permanence, have been all leading guides. Varieties are determinedfrom the fainter differences. The Sertularia abietina is thus named from its resemblance to somekind of fir, in conformity with the practice of comparing objects lessknown to those more familiar. It rises nine or ten inches high, by a slightly waving stem, withbranches diverging from each side in alternate arrangement, so that theextreme expansion of the product is about three inches, somewhat above theroot. The branches shorten upwards, in proportion to their height on thestem, until only a single alternate cell borders the highest. The sides of thewhole stem from the root to the summit, and of all the branches from theorigin to their extremity, are clothed with a row of cells, also in alternate ;? /. / i-i. . (fuirlcsTfttmisci Sculp >:e>i<^C^^iZ- fjy^</m^ SERTULARIA. 151 arrangement. This peculiar arrangement is the true formation of theadult, though the cells sometimes appear nearly in pairs. About 45 cellsare on each side of the longest branch, and one on each side of the short-est. The branches issue from the convexities of the stem. An elegantrecurvature, as of an ostrich feather, distinguishes this product, which is tobe ranked among the larger flexible zoophytes. As all the parts divergein the same plane, a specimen such as described might be sunk in thethickness of ordinary pasteboard.—Plate XXIII. The cells, which are ventricose, or swelling in the middle, are inha-bited by a grey or white hydra, protruding a long cylindrical neck andhead, with about 24 muricate tentacula. These tentacula appearing tothe eye a little enlarged, like so many rows of bea
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1847
