XIX. On the structure and development of myriothela

Abstract

Mykiothela, of which we have as yet no satisfactory evidence of more than a single species being known, consists of a solitary attached hydranth, carrying near its proximal or attached end the blastostyles or appendages which give origin and support to the gonophores (Plate 55). Full-sized specimens (fig. 1) measure, when extended, nearly 2 inches in length. They are then cylindrical in form, with the mouth occupying the summit of a short conical hypostome, behind which the tentacles commence, and thence extend over somewhat more than one half the entire length of the body; while the proximal end of the body is bent at right angles to the rest, is invested with a chitinous perisarc, and gives origin to short sucker-like processes of attachment.