66
It is remarkably different from all this kind. From the
fliffnefs of its Item, it is very probable, it is fupported by
a bony fubftance. The under fide o f its kidney-lhaped
body is flat and full of ramifications, which correfpond
with the polype mouths on the upper fide, which is a
little convex: there are but fix claws to each polype
fucker, which proceed from hexangular cells.- Dr. So-
lander, in his letter to me from Rio Janeiro, on the
coaft of Brazil, mentions, that whenever the. fifhermen
brought them any fhrimps, they were fure to find three
or four of thefe among them.
T a b . 8. g . Pennatula argentea. The Silver Sea-Pen.
F lG .1 .2 - , 3- Pennatula lanceolata This Sea-Pen has much the
pentice facie, ftirpe Icevi appearance of a writing pen ;
tereti, pinnis creberrimis it is of a long fpear fhape, with
imbricatis dentatis virga- • a round fmooth ftem ; the up-
tis. per part is very clofe fet with
fins, which lie one upon the
other ; they are dentated and
ftriped.
T ab. 8. F ig. i . 2. 3.
This curious animal was brought from Batavia by William
Webber, Efq. F. R. S. Its fins are not unlike thofe
of a fiat, with feveral fliarp points. They are ftriped
black and white, with a Alining furface, not unlike filr-
ver : they are often found above a foot long, and are faid
to be very luminous in the fea at night. There is one of
them in the Britifli Mufeum near eighteen inches long.
In the figure here reprefented, the bone appears to be
burft through the bottom, and one of the fins are magnified,
to fhew it more diftinclly.
10. Pennatula
Pennatula Encrinus. Great clufer Sea-Polype.
Pennatula Jlirpe qua-
drangulari attenuata lon-
gijfma ojfea membrana cal-
lofa vejlita, polypis ovi-
paris apice if
congefis.
This Sea-Pen has a very
long, fquare, bony ftem, which
grows very fmall towards the
top, and is covered with a callous
membrane : it fends forth
from the top, in form of an
umbell, a clufter of polypes,
from whence the eggs or fpawn
is produced.
Ellis Phil. Tranf. Vol. 48. pag, 305.
pag. 96. tab. 37.
Clufier-Polype.
tab. 12. Corallin.
Vorticella Encrinus. Linn. Syft. Nat. Ed. 12. pag. 13 1 7’
The ingenious Dr. Bohadfch, of Prague, has very properly
placed this curious animal among the Sea-Pens.
The twilling of the bone in the ftem feems to be an
onrl t hp pn<lf O Apr rtf InP
VIII. G O R G O N I A . T H E G O R G O N
Animal crefcens plantte
facie.
Os (fve fulcrum) va-
riat confijlentid in diverfs
fpeciebusy et ejl vel coria-
ceum-tfuberofum, lignofum,
corneum, ojfeum, tejla-
ceum, fb ris vitreis con-
textum vel lapideum ; f r i -
Is an animal that grows with
the appearance of a plant.
The bone, or inward fup-
port, varies in different fpe-
cies in its confiftence, and is
either like leather, cork, wood,
horn, bone, fhell, made of
glafly fibres, or like Hone; it
is ftriated, grows fmaller at
K 2 atuni,