Vesicularidæ, Hincks, Brit. Marine Polyzoa, p. 512 (1880).
Zoœcia constricted at the base, deciduous, attached to a stem that is either recumbent or vertical.
Genus BOWERBANKIA, Farre.
Bowerbankia, Farre, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. cxxvii, p. 391 (1837). Bowerbankia, Hincks, op. cit. p. 518.
Zoarium vertical or recumbent. Zoœcia ovate or almost cylindrical, arranged on the stem singly, in clusters or in a subspiral line. Polypide with 8 or 10 tentacles.
Bowerbankia caudata, Hincks.
Bowerbankia caudata, Hincks, op. cit. p. 521, pl. lxxv, figs. 7, 8.
This species is easily distinguished from all others by the fact that mature zoœcia have always the appearance of being fixed to the sides of a creeping, adherent stem and are produced, below the point at which they are thus fixed, into a pointed "tail."
Subsp. bengalensis, Annandale.
Bowerbankia caudata, Thornely, Rec. Ind. Mus. i, p. 196 (1907). Bowerbankia caudata, Annandale, ibid. p. 203. Bowerbankia caudata race bengalensis, id., ibid. ii. p. 13 (1908).