170
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Ipswich Society; Mr. G. H. Hewitson, the Hon. Secretary ; and Mr. W. Cole,
Hon. Sec. Essex Field Club, were also present; with about sixty members of the
two Societies.
The first haul was made off the "Cat House." The dredge was thrown out,
and after the vessel had drifted some little way with the tide, it came up crowded
with Sponges, Halichondria oculata, in the living state, covered over with the
little squirming Crustacean, Caprella linearis. Dr. Taylor happily described them
as messmates of the sponges, pointing out that their constant motion must bring
currents of fresh salt water to their fixed companions, and were possibly
auxiliaries, therefore, in providing the latter with food. A good number of females
of Caprella were taken, with curious egg bags carried between the hind legs.
These extraordinary animals excited much notice, and reference may be made to the
following graphic description of their habits in Gosse's "Naturalist's Rambles on
the Devonshire Coast" :—
" They are as much at home in the tree-like zoophyte (Plumularia cristata) as
a family of monkeys in their arboreal bowers ; and indeed their agility, as they
run from branch to branch, catching hold of a twig just within reach, and pulling
themselves in an instant up to it, then stretching out their long arms in every
direction, strongly reminds me of the spider monkeys of South America. One
needs little systematic knowledge to see that they are highly predatory. Strange,
spectre-like creatures they are, or rather skeleton-like, with long, slender bodies,
composed of few joints, and wide sprawling limbs set at remote distances—and
such limbs ! . . . With these hindmost legs the animal takes a firm grasp of
the twigs, and rears up into the free water its gaunt skeleton of a body, stretching
wide its scythe-like arms, with which it keeps up a see-saw motion, swaying its
whole body to and fro. Ever and anon, the blade is shut forcibly upon the grooved
haft, and woe be to the unfortunate Infusorium or Mite or Rotifer that comes within
that grasp ! The whole action, the posture, the figure of the animal and the
structure of the limb, are so like those of the tropical genus Mantis among insects,
which I have watched thus taking its prey in the Southern United States and the
West Indies, that I have no doubt passing animals are caught by the Crustacean
also in this way, though I have not seen any actually secured. . . ."
Among the Sponges dredged up were Grantia ciliata and G. compressa,
Halichondria panicea, Chalina oculata, Chione celata, alive in borings of Oyster shells,
Pachymatisma, sp. ?, and species of Tethea, &c.
The next stoppage was made in Butterman's Bay, where, as Dr. Taylor
predicted, a heavy haul of zoophytes was made. One of these is called the
Barley-sugar Coralline (Alcyonidium gelatinosum) because of its resemblance to a
stick of barley-sugar. These looked inert enough as deposited on deck, but when
a whole specimen was put in water, it blossomed into a series of lily-like forms,
that bestrewed the whole yellow surface like a cloud, and each one of which was
seen to be a perfectly-formed and highly-organised zoophyte. Hydrozoan
corallines came out in a similarly interesting fashion when they had overcome the
rude shock of the dredge. The list of Hydrozoa taken included Sertularia
abietina, S. pumila, S. operculata, Thuiaria thula, Plumularia falcata, Antennularia
antennata, Tubularia indivisa, Coryne pusilla, Laomedea geniculatum, Campanularia
serpens, &c. Among the rarer Actinoida was Ilyanthus scoticus.
Gathered up with the rubbish, or "stuff," as the men called it, were the ugly-
looking leathery tubes of Sabella, which, put into the bottles, soon expanded lovely
feathery tufts of tentacles quite two inches in diameter, and presenting
a very beautiful spectacle. Several Echinodermata were dredged up, including
Solaster papposa (Sun-star), Echinus miliaris, Uraster rubens, and a species of
Ophiothrix. Specimens of Errantia and Terebella attracted much notice from