_Polypide._ The polypide has 8 slender tentacles, which are thickly covered with short hairs. The basal part of the oesophagus forms a thin-walled sac (the "gizzard") constricted off from the upper portion and bearing internally a thin structureless membrane. Circular muscles exist in its wall but are not strongly developed on its upper part. There is a single funiculus, which connects the posterior end of the stomach with the base of the zooecium. The ovaries and testes are borne on the endocyst, not in connection with the funiculus. _Resting buds._ The resting buds are flattened or resemble young zooecia in external form. _Victorella_, although found in fresh water, occurs more commonly in brackish water and is known to exist in the littoral zone of the sea. 26. Victorella bengalensis, _Annandale_. _Victorella pavida_, Annandale (_nec_ Kent), Rec. Ind. Mus. i, p. 200, figs. 1-4 (1907). _Victorella bengalensis_, _id._, _ibid._ ii, p. 12, fig. 1 (1908). _Zoarium._ _The mature zoarium resembles a thick fur_, the hairs of which are represented by elongate, erect, slender tubules (the zooecia), the arrangement of the whole being very complicated and irregular. The base of the zoarium often consists of an irregular membrane formed of matted tubules, which are sometimes agglutinated together by a gummy secretion. The zoarium as a whole has a faint yellowish tinge. _Zooecia._ The zooecia when young are practically recumbent, each being of an ovoid form and having a stout, distinctly quadrate orificial tubule projecting upwards and slightly forwards near the anterior margin of the dorsal surface. At this stage a single tubule, often of great relative length, is often given off near the orifice, bearing a bud at its free extremity. As the zooecium grows the tubular part becomes much elongated as compared with the basal part and assumes a vertical position. Its quadrate form sometimes persists but more often disappears, so that it becomes almost circular in cross-section throughout its length. Buds are produced near the tip in considerable profusion. As a rule, if they appear at this stage, the tubule connecting them with the parent zooecium is short or obsolete; sometimes they are produced only on one side of the zooecium, sometimes on two. The buds themselves produce granddaughter and great-granddaughter buds, often connected together by short tubules, while still small and imperfectly developed. The swelling at the base of the zooecium, when the latter is fully formed, is small. _Polypide._ The polypide has the features characteristic of the genus. The base of the gizzard is surrounded by a strong circular muscle. [Illustration: Fig. 37.--_Victorella bengalensis_ (type specimens).