When
One Of The Vulture-Like Heads Was Cut Off From The Cell, The
Lower Mandible Retained Its Power Of
Opening and closing.
Perhaps the most singular part of their structure is, that
when there were more than two rows
Of cells on a branch,
the central cells were furnished with these appendages, of
only one-fourth the size of the outside ones. Their movements
varied according to the species; but in some I never
saw the least motion; while others, with the lower mandible
generally wide open, oscillated backwards and forwards at
the rate of about five seconds each turn, others moved rapidly
and by starts. When touched with a needle, the beak
generally seized the point so firmly, that the whole branch
might be shaken.
These bodies have no relation whatever with the production
of the eggs or gemmules, as they are formed before the
young polypi appear in the cells at the end of the growing
branches; as they move independently of the polypi, and do
not appear to be in any way connected with them; and as
they differ in size on the outer and inner rows of cells, I have
little doubt, that in their functions, they are related rather
to the horny axis of the branches than to the polypi in the
cells. The fleshy appendage at the lower extremity of the
sea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms part of the
zoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots of a
tree form part of the whole tree, and not of the individual
leaf or flower-buds.
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