_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).
A=single zooecium without adventitious buds but with a young resting bud (_b_), × 70 (dorsal view); B=lateral view of a smaller zooecium without buds, × 70; C=upper part of a zooecium with a single adventitious bud, × 70; D=outline of the upper part of a zooecium with adventitious buds of several generations, × 35; E=remains of a zooecium with two resting buds (_b_) attached. All the specimens figured are from Port Canning and, except D, are represented as they appear when stained with borax carmine and mounted in canada balsam.]
_Resting buds._ The resting buds (fig. 31, p. 170) are somewhat variable in shape but are always flat with irregular cylindrical or subcylindrical projections round the margin, on which the horny coat is thinner than it is on the upper surface. This surface is either smooth or longitudinally ridged.
This species differs from the European _V. pavida_ in very much the same way as, but to a greater extent than, the Indian race of _Bowerbankia caudata_ does from the typical English one (see p. 189). The growth of the zoarium is much more luxuriant, and the form of the resting buds is different.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.--_V. bengalensis_ is abundant in pools of brackish water in the Ganges delta and in the Salt Lakes near Calcutta; it also occurs in ponds of fresh water near the latter. I have received specimens from Madras from Dr. J. R. Henderson, and it is probable that the form from Bombay referred by Carter to _Paludicella_ belonged to this species.
BIOLOGY.--In the Ganges delta _V. bengalensis_ is usually found coating the roots and stems of a species of grass that grows in and near brackish water, and on sticks that have fallen into the water. It also spreads over the surface of bricks, and I have found a specimen on a living shell of the common mollusc _Melania tuberculata_. Dr. Henderson obtained specimens at Madras from the surface of a freshwater shrimp, _Palæmon malcolmsonii_. In the ponds at Port Canning the zoaria grow side by side with, and even entangled with those of _Bowerbankia caudata_ subsp. _bengalensis_, to the zooecia of which their zooecia bear a very strong external resemblance so far as their distal extremity is concerned. This resemblance, however, disappears in the case of zooecia that bear terminal buds, for no such buds are borne by _B. caudata_; and the yellowish tint of the zoaria of _V. bengalensis_ is characteristic. Zoaria of the entoproct _Loxosomatoides colonialis_ and colonies of the hydroid _Irene ceylonensis_ are also found entangled with the zoaria of _V. bengalensis_, the zooecia of which are often covered with various species of Vorticellid protozoa and small rotifers. The growth of _V. bengalensis_ is more vigorous than that of the other polyzoa found with it, and patches of _B. caudata_ are frequently surrounded by large areas of _V. bengalensis_.