Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/190

Rh they cling around the flesh with the most annoying tenacity, so that it is no easy matter to cleanse one's hand of them. In what resides this adhesive power? Doubtless in the barbed threads which are sheathed in innumerable myriads in every filament. The force with which these javelins are projected, their elastic strength, and their excessive tenuity enable them to penetrate animal tissues, even of apparently dense texture; and their barbed bristles enable them to maintain a firm hold. On this matter I beg my reader's reference to the note on the filaments of Adamsia, in p. 143.

Under the compressorium the thread suddenly cracks, with a start and a crepitation distinctly audible; a curious circumstance, which seems to indicate a crustaceous or siliceous structure somewhere. I think it cannot be the walls of the filament itself, but the capsules, that crack, minute as they are. The filament is more densely filled with capsules than that of any species which I am acquainted with: perhaps there are even millions of them. The capsules are of about the average size of those found in other Actiniæ; viz. th of an inch in length, and of the ordinary form, linear-oblong, almost straight; the contained thread is propelled to no great length, in some cases scarcely exceeding that of the capsule, in others reaching to five times the length; or from th to th of an inch. A slight thickness is discernible about the basal half, which indicates an armed furniture, but I was unable to resolve its precise structure.

A rank penetrating odour proceeds from this species, in a greater degree than usual. It is communicated