Among these creatures we may note the pretty _Apolemia contorta_ of Milne Edwards (Fig. 98), which also inhabits the Mediterranean, and particularly the coast of Nice, and is no less admirable in its structure than _Agalma rubra_. This elegant species is often met with in the Gulf of Villafranca, near Nice, and has been figured and described by Milne Edwards, Charles Vogt, and also by M. de Quatrefages, who asks the reader "to figure to himself an axis of flexible crystals, sometimes more than a mètre (forty inches), all round which are attached, by means of long peduncles or foot-stalks equally transparent, some hundreds of bodies, sometimes elongated, sometimes flat, and formed like the bud of a flower. If we add to this garland of pearls of a vivid red colour, an infinity of fine filaments, varying in thickness, and give life and motion to all these parts, we have even now only a very slight and imperfect idea of the marvellous organism." The air-bells in _Apolemia contorta_ consist of a mass having the form of an elongated egg cut in the middle. They are arranged in a vertical series of twelves, and the axis which supports them is terminated by the aërial vesicle. This axis is always arranged in a spiral form, even in its greatest expansion, is of a fine rose tint, and flattened into the form of a ribbon; it is marked in all its length with asperitics or hollow dimples, in which the filamental appendages originate. [Illustration: Fig. 98. Apolemia contorta, one-third natural size (Milne Edwards).] The nursing polyps have been called _poboscidiferous_ organs by Mr. Milne Edwards, who has studied them carefully. They are rendered conspicuous at a glance by the bright-red colour of their digestive cavity and their extreme dilatability. At the base of their stems the very delicate filaments called fishing-lines are attached, which are furnished with a multitude of stinging tendrils of a reddish colour. These tendrils slightly resemble those of the Agalmæ, and the sabre-like weapons are not wanting. [Illustration: Fig. 99. Apolemia contorta, magnified 12 times.] [Illustration: Fig. 100. Apolemia contorta, reproductive pair, magnified 12 times.] Between the nursing polyps are placed in pairs the reproductive individuals, having the form of an elongated tube very dilatable, and closed at the free end. They have, then, no mouth! Milne Edwards calls these "vesicular appendages," and M. Koelliker, tentacles. The buds arranged at the base of each prolific individual vary; but, according to M. Vogt, they are always there in pairs--a male and female at the base of each stem. Figs. 99 and 100 represent the colony we have endeavoured to describe, 99 being the nursing individual of _Apolemia contorta_ magnified twelve times, 100 representing the reproductive pair under the same magnifying power. THE DIPHYDÆ.