Resting buds. The resting buds are flattened or resemble young zoœcia 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 zoœcia), 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.
Zoœcia. The zoœcia 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 zoœcium 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 zoœcium is short or obsolete; sometimes they are produced only on one side of the zoœcium, 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 zoœcium, 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.
Fig. 37.—Victorella bengalensis (type specimens).