Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/270

Rh the hold was very readily let go, even in health; the little animal travels quickly, causing itself to adhere to any substance, either by the contact of the tentacles, of the marginal warts, or of the foot-disk.

From what O. Fabricius says of the food of this species,—"vescitur oniscis,"—I presented to one a little Gammarus locusta; the Lucernaria strove to take in the prey with its mobile mouth, and succeeded in partially embracing it, holding it for several hours, after which it dropped it. The shrimp was early rendered powerless.

In colour these delicate creatures vary much. The expanded membrane is usually colourless; but the mouth, the ovaries, the edges of the disk, and the foot display colour. This may be grass-green, olive, drab, whitish, or various shades of rose-pink. The warts are commonly whitish, and the tentacle-globules pale orange yellow. In some specimens, opaque-white specks were scattered over the disk, which in others were absolutely wanting. The nature of these I cannot conjecture.

In February of the present year (1854) Mr. Thompson of Weymouth was so kind as to send me up several specimens of what I take to be a distinct species, L. campanulata. It is less elegant, more cup- or bell-shaped, with scarcely any perceptible stalk. These specimens were about an inch in height, more dense in texture, of a dark dull green hue.

My friend has favoured me with the following notice of the habits of this species. "The Lucernariœ I find as fellows:—at extreme low water, beds of sea-grass (Zostera marina) are exposed; on some of