with baited hooks, withdrawing it when he feels a nibble, and throwing again when he discovers his disappointment. These efforts continue in full vigour for two or three days, and I have succeeded sometimes in feeding them with the small crustaceans which swarm on our coasts." Of the "personelle" of these colonies a few words will not be misplaced. The common axis of the _Agalma_ is a hollow muscular tube, the length of which may be three feet, and its breadth an eighth or tenth of an inch; it is traversed by a double current of granulous liquid; at its summit is the aërial vesicle; beneath are the swimming vessels. These are disposed along the trunk in a double series, attaining sometimes the number of sixty; their structure is analogous to the same organs in the Physophora. In examining the posterior portion of the trunk, traversing polyps are observed at intervals, whose base is surrounded by a cluster of reddish grains, each of which is armed with a _line_, and with its surrounding filament, terminating in a tendril of a red vermilion colour, which is a perfect arsenal of offensive and defensive arms. There we find "_sabres_" of divers sizes, and poniards of various forms, the whole constituting a truly formidable stinging apparatus. These warlike engines, these arms of attack and defence with which man surrounds himself, Nature has freely bestowed on these little creatures with which the ocean swarms in some places. It might be said that, after having created these graceful creatures to ornament and decorate the depths of the ocean, the Creator was so pleased with His work that He furnished them with arms for their protection and defence against all attacks from without.