centre is a clustered branch of the WHITE CORAL, which is so much used as a drawing-room ornament when placed under a glass shade. In the upper right-hand corner may be seen a singular group of zoophytes with curved stems and flower-like heads. This is the GREEN CLAVELLARIA (Clavellaria viridis), one of the most striking examples of the genus.

The Green Clavellaria is very common on the Isle of Vanikoro, and is found in tolerably large masses, adhering to rocks, madrepores and similar substances. All the Clavellarias are of somewhat similar shape, though variable in size and colour, and may be recognised by several conspicuous characteristics. The tubes are nearly cylindrical, but tapering, as shown in the illustration, and forming a footstalk, which is more or less bent.

The texture is somewhat leathery, and is strengthened by innumerable spicules of a calcareous nature, which are agglomerated together in bundles. These spicules are too small to be distinguished except by the microscope; but under a tolerably high power, they are seen to be long and spindle-shaped, sharp at both ends, and being encircled with little rounded knobs, set in regular rows. These tubes are always placed very closely together, but do not adhere to each other, their grooved surfaces being always distinct.

The animal by which this tube is formed is a very pretty one, cylindrical, with eight radiating tentacles of a violet grey. The colour of the tube is green for the upper half, and then changes to brown, so that the contrast of the two colours is very decided. The average length of the tube is two inches.

There are several other species of Clavellaria, among which may be noticed the VIOLET CLAVELLARIA (Clavellaria violacea). This is a much smaller species, but is coloured in a more bold and decided manner. In this creature the tubes are dark violet, and the tentacles are bright yellow. They do not, however, project from the tube as boldly as those of the preceding species, but only just show their tips above the entrance, withdrawing them smartly on the least alarm. As they retreat, they slightly contract the orifice, their bodies being fastened to the inside of the tube.

TOWARDS the centre of the illustration, and on the right-hand side, may be seen a remarkable tree-like object, covered with

long, tendril-like appendages, each tipped with a radiating beard. This zoophyte is known by the title of Xenia elongata, and on account of its singular form, is a very conspicuous species.

Examples of this genus are spread over many of the hotter parts of the world, some being found in the Red Sea, and all notable for the remarkable form of the animal and its submarine home. The present species has been chosen more for the singularity of its form, than the beauty of its colours, which cannot be expressed in the simple black and white of a woodcut. Some species of this genus have the star-like tentacles coloured with blue of various shades, some with rose, and some with lilac, and as in many cases the expanded tentacles are an inch in diameter, the effect of a large mass of these animals in full health is very fine.

Except, however, in their native state, they never can be seen in full health, their constitutions being so delicate that they cannot endure removal from the spot whereon they were developed. If removed from the water, they immediately shrink to half their size, and do not assume their former dimensions, no matter how carefully they are tended. The present species is found on the shores of the Feejee Islands, and in form is certainly the most singular of its genus, the enormously long and slender body at once distinguishing it from any other species. Its colour is simple brown, and the diameter of the tentacles is rather more than three-quarters of an inch.

IN the left-hand lower corner of the illustration is a curious globular object, covered with circular and radiated marks, and having a number of flower-headed projections upon the top. This is the GREEN ASTRÆA (Astræa viridis), one of the finest examples of a singular and beautiful group of zoophytes. In this genus the animals are shaped something like the well-known sea anemone, and rather short, having a great number of very small tentacles, which are gathered round a central mouth. The "cups" which these animals form, and in which they live, are rather deep and conical, and their inner surfaces are corrugated into a number of thin walls with beautifully serrated edges.

The animal is rather oddly formed. The body is not quite cylindrical, but is broader at the base than at the top, and is deeply ridged with circular furrows, so that it looks very like the

well-known glass bottles which are used for holding salad dressing, and which make up for lack of contents by profusion of glass. In the very centre of the top is placed the mouth, and round it are grouped a vast number of little tentacles that radiate like the flowerets of a daisy or dandelion. In the present species the animal is about half an inch in length, and the animals are clustered together in masses that are often as large as the fist. They are rather variable in shape, but are always more or less globular.

The colour of this species is simple and pleasing. The body of the animal is pale grey-blue, and the tentacles are bright green, so that when a number of the animals are simultaneously protruding themselves, the general effect is very striking. These zoophytes are able to retract themselves almost wholly within their houses, so that nothing is visible except that round the mouth there is a small green circle, which is formed by the projecting tips of the tentacles. This species is found at Vanikoro.

There are many species of Astræa, all very pretty, and some quite beautiful. Among the most conspicuous are the ABNORMAL ASTREA (Astræa abdita), in which the mouth is scarlet and the tentacles yellow; the ANANA ASTREA (Astræa ananas), where the tentacles are yellow, but the mouth white; and the CHOCOLATE ASTREA (Astræa fusco-viridis), when the mouth is green, surrounded with a broad chocolate border, and the tentacles are white.

IN the left centre of the illustration is seen a group of that most beautiful zoophyte which is known as the RED ORGAN-PIPE CORAL (Tubipora rubeola [or syringa]).

This handsome zoophyte is found chiefly off Carteret, in New Ireland, and is grouped together in masses that are often many yards in diameter. It is usually found in about two or three feet of water, but is sometimes placed so high that at very low tides it is laid bare by the receding waters.

The animal which forms this wonderful tubing is cylindrical, and the tentacles are pinkish, not possessing the brilliant red of the tubes, and in its native state, the animals envelop so completely the upper part of the general mass, that the bright red head is not perceptible. The coral masses are very fragile, and will not bear the pressure of the human foot, crumbling beneath

the tread as if they were made of sugar. The tubes are beautifully cylindrical, and do not adhere to each other, being kept asunder by partitions, which precisely resemble the boards. through which the pipes of an organ are passed.

They are very thin, though hard, and a rough pressure of the hand will always damage them. My own specimen is now sadly shorn of its original fair dimensions, at least half of its tubes having been broken away by the rude grasp of servants' hands, just as my best specimens of the paper nautilus and other fragile curiosities were damaged before I learned to put them under lock and key.

The animal is not a large one, its length being scarcely greater than that of the distance from one partition to another. The arrangement of the tubes and the partitions looks very complicated, but is, in fact, simple enough. The animal secretes around itself the calcareous substance which forms the tube, but when it has reached to its full extent, it is obliged to leave the cylindrical home in which it had resided. The partition is then secreted by the edge of the mantle, or membrane by which the creature is attached to its tube, and the zoophyte then begins another tube immediately above that which it has quitted.

Sometimes there is a kind of floor that separates the upper tube from the lower, but it is extremely thin, so that a tolerably stout bristle can be pushed through it. The partition is at least twice as strong as the tubes, which are scarcely thicker than the paper on which this account is printed, and is not solid, but perforated with holes just like the machine-made bricks which have lately come into use. In my own specimen there is a curious proof of the abundance of submarine animal life. The group of Organ-pipe Coral has enveloped a piece of White Coral, and has shown a remarkable instance of the manner in which beings so low in the scale of nature can accommodate themselves to circumstances. As if conscious that the coral formed an obstacle which they could not pass in a direct line, they ceased from tube-building when they arrived within a little distance of the coral, and threw up a partition vertically instead of horizontally, so as to envelop the greater part of the coral with the red calcareous substance. Having done so, they then made a new foundation upon the coral, and built a fresh series of tubes, so that when viewed from above, the series of tubes is

quite uninterrupted, and no one would imagine that any extraneous substance had intruded into the mass.

The tubes themselves have formed the basis of other submarine habitations, for a moderate magnifying-glass shows that sundry molluscs and molluscoids have settled down upon their exterior, while the white serpentine tubes which creep among the perpendicular pillars, show that the serpule and other tubemaking creatures have taken up their residence in so well protected a spot.

AT the bottom of the sea there are a vast number of wonderful and interesting animals that are known to naturalists as Tubicolous Annelides, i.e. Tube-inhabiting Worms. These creatures are true architects, not inhabiting the tubes which