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( a ; oe or 36 THE BRITISH
SHA-ANEMONES
aND
CORALS.
IN COLOURS BY BOLOCERA TUEDIA : AIPTASIA COUCHII ANTHEA CEREUS SACARTIA COCCINEA 5 S. TROGLODYTES
ACTINOLOGIA BRITANNICA.
A HISTORY
OF
THE BRITISH
SEA-ANEMONES
AND
CORALS.
WITH COLOURED FIGURES OF THE SPECIES AND PRINCIPAL VARIETIES.
BY
PHILIP HENRY GOSSE, F.R.S.
LONDON: VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1860.
BRARS MAY 31 1974
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PREFACE.
In writing the following pages, I have laboured to produce such a “History of the British Sea~Anemones and Corals,” as a student can work with. Having often painfully felt in studying works similar to the present, the evil of the vagueness and con- fusion that too frequently mark the descriptive portions, I have endeavoured to draw up the characters of the animals which I describe, with distinctive precision, and with order. It is said of Montagu that, in describing animals, he constantly wrote as if he had expected that the next day would bring to light some new species closely resembling the one before him ; and therefore his diagnosis can rarely be amended. Some writers mistake for precision an excessive minuteness, which only distracts the student, and is after all but the portrait of an individual. Others describe so loosely that half of the characters would serve as well for half-a-dozen other species. I have sought to avoid both errors : to make the diagnoses as brief as possible, and yet clear, by seizing on such characters, in each case, as are truly distinc- tive and discriminative. Further to aid the student, I have given the characters in a regular and definite order, so that he may at a glance compare species with species, or genus with genus, in their several parts and organs.
In this I have received little aid—I may say almost literally none—from my predecessors. The “History of British Zoophytes”
vi PREFACE.
by Dr. Johnston has hitherto been the English naturalist’s only guide to the study of these creatures ; and notwithstanding the value of this work in many points, the almost utter worthless- ness of their specific characters has been often confessed. That excellent zoologist lived on a coast where the Anemones are feebly represented ; and hence his personal acquaintance with species was very small, or the result would doubtless have been different.
The elaborate “ Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires” of M. Milne-Edwards is liable to the same objection. A work of immense research, labour, and patience, it bears evidence in every page of being the produce of the museum and the closet, not of the aquarium and the shore. With those. species which possess no stony skeleton, the learned author evidently had no acquaint- ance,—or next to none ;—and hence he has merely reproduced the words of his authorities in all their vagueness ; while the distribution of the species into genera and families appears so full of manifest error to one personally familiar with the animals in a living state, that I have not attempted to follow his arrangement,
I have been compelled, therefore, to draw up the characters of my subjects de novo ; and in doing so I have resorted to nature itself; I have studied the living animals. For the last eight years I have searched the most prolific parts of the British shores, —the coast of Dorset, South and North Devon, and South Wales ; and have moreover, as the following pages show, had poured into my aquaria the productions of almost every other part of our coasts,—from the Channel Isles to the Shetlands. For these last I am indebted to the kindness of many zealous scientific friends, whose names appear in this volume, and to whom I here express my grateful obligation ; especially distin- guishing Mr. F. H. West of Leeds, and the Rev. W. Gregor of Macduff, as pre-eminent in their contributions.
The result is that seventy-five species ‘find their places in these pages, five of which are merely indicated, leaving seventy good species, exclusive of the Lacernariade. Of these twenty-
PREFACE. Vii
four only are described in Johnston,—the rest of his species being either synonyms or resting on insufficient evidence. Fifty-four British species have been examined by myself, perhaps a larger number than have come under the notice of any other naturalist ; by far the greater part in life and health ; and thirty-four of these have been added to the British Fauna by myself.
A new feature in works of this sort, which will strike the student, perhaps needs a word of explanation ;—I mean the dis- tinguishing of the prominent varieties of each species by a diagnosis, and the assigning of a trivial name to each. Consider- ing the variability of many of the forms, I trust the convenience of this procedure will excuse the innovation.
The analytical tables of the families, genera, and species, hitherto scarcely known in English zoological works, will, I think, be found useful; nor will the attempt to tabulate the geographical distribution of the species be devoid of interest to the philosophic student.
The plates must speak for themselves : they have been printed in colours by Mr. W. Dickes, who has spared no effort to make them, as nearly as possible, fac-similes of my original drawings, which were made from the life.
Nearly two years have been occupied in the progressive publi- cation of the work, as it has been issued in bi-monthly parts. Advantages and disadvantages attend this mode of publication. Among the former may be reckoned that the information is brought down to the latest period, and that the successive parts stimulate the zeal and co-operation of fellow-labourers ; the book thus embodying the knowledge of many, rather than of one. Among disadvantages must be put down, incongruities between the earlier and the later portions, statements made and opinions hazarded which are subsequently corrected, and omissions which are finally supplied. For these defects the author must cast himself on the kind consideration of his readers, who must be
aware that no branch of science is at one stay even for a single month.
Vill PREFACE.
My labour has been performed con amore; I have looked forward to it for many years past; and it is with no small grati- fication that I see it completed. I send forth the result as one more tribute humbly offered to the glory of the Triune God, “ who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.”
P. H. Gossz.
Torquay, December, 1859.
LIST OF PLATES.
I—1. Actinoloba dianthus, 2. Sagartia bellis. 3. S. troglodytes. 4, 5, 6. S. rosea. 7. S. venusta. 8, 9. S. sphyro-
CO a, igtiat «<9. went ante hinitve feudyn 3 ee Sues page 12 TI.—1, 8. Sagartia nivea. 2, 3,4. S. miniata. 5. 5 Oe ats be
6. S. parasitica. 9,10. S.ornata . .. . aoe: ae IIL—1, 2. Sagartia troglodytes. 3. S. viduata. a ge
6. S. pura. 7,8 Adamsia palliata . . . . - 106
IV.—1. Tealia crassicornis. 2, 3. sorts sara 4, B. Ballii. Dyer Ry aia! Oe oF POU as avis. eee
V.—1. Bolocera Tuedie. 2. Antheacereus. 3. Aiptasia Couchii. 4. Sagartia coccinea. 5. S. troglodytes . . . . . Front.
VI.—1 to 6. Actinia mesembryanthemum. 7. A. chiococca. 8. Sa- gartia chrysosplenium. 9. Anthea cereus. 10. Tealia duets. 13.8 viduaia, oS ef 8
VII.—1. Phellia gausapata. 2. P. murocincta. 3. Gregoria fenes- trata. 4. Bunodes coronata. 5, 6. Edwardsia carnea. 7. E. callimorpha. 8. Cerianthus Lloydii. 9,10, Hal- campa chrysanthellum. 11. H.microps ... . . 228
VIIL—Hormathia Margarite. 2. Phellia Brodricii. 3. Peachia hastata. 4. P.undata. 5. Pte Churchie. 6. yi anthus Mitchellii . . . .. 4 : . 234
IX.—1 to 5. Corynactis viridis. 6. Bolocera eques. 7. Zoanthus sulcatus, 8. Z. Alderi. 9,10. Z. Couchii. 11. Aure- liania augusta. 12. A. heterocera. 13. Capnea san- SEMI? cata ce ace <a eR
LIST OF PLATES.
X.—1. -Lophohelia prolifera. 2. Peachia triphylla. 3. Sphenotro- chus Wrightii. 4. S. Macandrewanus. 65. Zoanthus Couchii.. 6. Paracyathus Taxilianus. 7, P. pteropus.
8. P. Thulensis. 9. Hoplangia Durotrix. 10,11. Bala- nophyllia regia. 12, 13. Caryophyllia Smithii. Zo face p. 308
XI—AnatomicaL DETaIts. 1. Ideal demi-section of a Sagartia. a. septum; 0. septal foramen; c. stomach; d. liver;
- €, ovarian mesentery ; f. ovary ; g. craspedal mesentery ; h. craspedum ; 7. acontia, 2. Fragment of craspedum (S. bellis) with its mesentery (magnified). 3. The same craspedum under pressure (more highly magnified). 4. Fragment of acontium (S. bellis). 5. Portion of column containing cinclides (A. dianthus). k. fully open ; l. slightly open; m. closed. 6. Chambered cnida (Ca- ryophyllia) before discharge. 7. Chambered cnida (Tealia) discharged. m. ecthoreum; o. strebla; p. pterygia. 8. Chambered cnida discharging, showing the ecthoreeum in process of evolving. (N.B.—The strebla and pterygia are here omitted, for the sake of greater clearness. ) 9. Tangled cnida (Corynactis). 10. Spiral cnida (Tealia) discharging. 11, 12. Globate cnide (S. parasitica). q. peribola . eine tke s Weis Siyeetan ae OSS
XII.—Maeniriep Ficurss. 1. Phellia picta. 2. Zoanthus sulcatus. 3. Edwardsia carnea. 4. Caryophyllia (tentacle). 5. Zo- anthus Alderi. 6, Halcampa microps. 7. Gregoria fenestrata. 8. Phellia murocincta . ee aS
a Te EN Se Se ee eS
INTRODUCTION.
TuouGH the following “History of the British Sea- anemones and Corals” is intended for general readers, it seems desirable that it should be petite et by a brief résumé of what is known concerning the anatomy and physiology of this order of animals. I have commenced the text of the work with a general description of the con- stituent parts of their bodies, in order to establish a determinate orismology for the class, and shall here assume that the reader is sufficiently familiar with the various rain and the terms by which they are indicated.
e Sea-anemones present a low grade of animal existence, and are commonly represented as exceedingly simple in structure. The term “ Animal-flowers,” by which they were known to the early observers, and which has been perpetuated in the Greek equivalent “ ANTHOZOA,” cae to the class by some modern naturalists, has been
ought to express the fact, that a vegetable type of organization is scarcely less proper to them than an animal
one. It is, however, to the accidental resemblance which
these beautiful forms often bear to a highly-coloured and many-petaled flower, that the name owes its appropriate- ness, rather than to any close assimilation to the vegetable structure. The Sea-anemone is an indubitable animal, and its organization is more complex than is usually supposed. This will be seen as we proceed with the successive ex- amination of the organs.*
* In all cases in which I do not adduce any other authority, the following statements may be considered as given on the authority of my own dissec- tions and observations.
xii INTRODUCTION.
1. Tegumentary System. The skin is sufficiently distinct. After a few hours’ maceration in fresh water (Sag. bellis), the epithelial and pigmental cells are easily removed with a hair-pencil, leaving the outer layer of muscular fibre bare. If the specimen be immersed in spirit for a day or two (A. dianthus), the integument may be separated in flakes, which, under the microscope, are seen to be composed of a multitude of short corrugated fibrille, set in no definite direction, interspersed with clear granules, pigment grains, and cnide.
An examination of the living animal (dianthus, bellis, erassicornis, Hale. chrysanthellum, Cor. viridis, &c.) shows that the skin is composed of three elements, though these cannot always be separated. A layer of epithelial ciliated cells forms the first tunic: these are constantly in process of being thrown off from the true skin, in the form of mucus; but in some cases (Phellia, Hdwardsia) they entangle foreign matters, and retain their cohesion as an investment more or less dense, and more or less firmly adherent to the skin. Below this is the true skin, of a more granular character, and carrying, imbedded in its thickness, a multitude of cnide, whose discharging points are directed outwards. Intimately connected with this layer, but still lying sufficiently beneath it to be regarded as a distinct stratum, are the pigment-cells, which impart the colours to the animal.
The tentacles of Acpiasia and Anthea (less conspicuously also of S. bellis) are lined with a dense layer of cells, forming to the naked eye a dark brown lining. Some peculiarities of these cells I have detailed (at page 167, enfra): it is probable that this layer may have some special function yet unrecognised.
2. Muscular System. In most species the muscular frame- work of the body is beautifully distinct, and the tissue is readily isolable. The column is a cylinder of muscular tissue, consisting of two layers, the outer composed of transverse, the inner of longitudinal, fibres. The trans- verse fibres are the more strongly marked: they average about ‘0001 inch in diameter, and are never striate.
The cylinder which forms the column, is closed in most species by two extremities, which are flat, like the top and bottom of a tin canister: the former is the disk, the latter the base. Each of these is but a continuation of the same
INTRODUCTION. xili
two layers of fibre that compose the column-wall,—the outer transverse fibres becoming concentrically circular ; the inner longitudinal ones converging to, or towards, a centre. In general, the boundaries of these divisions are distinctly marked by an abrupt angular change of the direction of the inner fibres; but in some species (ILYAN- THIDZ, Turbinolia, &c.), the body tapers ually to a int below, without any angular change of direction.
The fibres of the inner layer meet at a central point in the base, except in those species which have a central foramen there; but in the disk they sustain another change of direc- tion, bending abruptly down at right angles, so as to form an inclosure in the axis of the column, parallel to the outer wall—the fibres of the outer layer still coating them. This downward prolongation forms the stomach, which will be presently described. ;
In T. crassicornis the angle which is formed by the in- bending of the fibres to form the disk, is strengthened by a muscular cord, about half a line in thickness, consisting of annular fibres, and evidently acting as a sphincter : it is this band that forms the parapet.
In Sagartia (bellis, miniata, nivea, &c.) the muscular tunic, in contraction, corrugates into a reticulate or honey- comb-like pattern, inclosing shallow cells of much regu- larity. It is, I think, these inclosed areas, any one of which may be considered as a cell, with perpendicular walls of muscular tissue, that constitute the sucking warts, by means of which minute fragments of shell or gravel are grasped, and retained with considerable force. If this exposition is correct, all of the corrugated cells are capable of becoming suckers at the will of the animal; but, in fact, only a few are so used atatime. The cells (nivea, miniata) are about ‘014 inch in depth and longitudinal diameter, while their transverse diameter may average about ‘084 inch, It is the outer layer of muscles that constitutes these corrugations. :
The sucking warts in the Bunodide, are of similar character; but here the elevation of the muscular tunic is more permanent, and the walls of the individual cells are thicker, and are incurved towards each other.
To the muscular system belong the Septa. These are thin plates of muscular tissue, comprising the two layers of transverse and longitudinal fibres, doubled on each other,
XiV INTRODUCTION.
and stretching vertically through the cavity inclosed by the column. Each principal septum (Plate XI. fig. 1, a), in any of the normal species, is inserted, by its outer edge, into the column-wall throughout its entire height; by its lower edge, into the base, from the wall to the centre; by its upper edge, into the disk, from the margin to the mouth ; and, by its inner edge, into the stomach, from the lip, almost to the free bottom of that viscus. From thence the inner edge recedes with an arching outline, and is free, until it is ieveraer merged in the lower edge at the centre of the base. Between these primary septa, others are developed in succession, partitioning off the imperfect chambers thus formed. But the septa of each successive cycle, while still inserted in the column-wall throughout, spring from the stomach at higher and higher points, and terminate at Cast more and more remote from the centre of the base.
he number of septa depends, to a certain limit, on the age of the individual, but in Peachia it never exceeds twelve, and in Halcampa microps, eight.
In Peachia, the tissue of the septa is very dense, and still more so in 7. crassicornis, where it assumes a firmness almost cartilaginous, and a decided blue colour.
The muscular tissue of the disk protrudes in the form of hollow cones, which are the tentacles: each of these springs from an interseptal chamber, and hence their deve- lopment is in cycles corresponding to that of the septa. The fibres which compose their walls are very delicate.
3. Nervous and Sensory System. I have been as unsuc- cessful as my predecessors, in my search for nervous threads or ganglia; still, I have little doubt that such exist. I should expect their presence in the form of a ring, sur- rounding the mouth, perhaps with a pair of ganglia at the a tubercles, distributing threads to the tentacles.
have never observed any trace of auditory vesicles or otolithes, nor any organs that I could regard as eyes; not even in the rudimentary form of those aggregations of pig- ment-cells, that occur on the margin of the Naked-eyed Meduse. A delicate sense of touch certainly exists, dis- tributed over the entire surface, but specially localized in the lips and the tentacles. The occasional elongation of one or more of these latter organs, and their employment (as described at pp. 34—36, infra), indicate the existence of an active tactile faculty, and not merely of passive
~~) i. ————
ae
OE OS FT a ae eg eS
INTRODUCTION. XV
irritability. The tips of the tentacles are bristled with the
~ minute points, called by Dr. T. S. Wright pocils,*
which he considers as delicate tactile organs. ese are peony oncsenige on er meee heads of the rere
Corynactis and Caryophyllia. am not sure whether I ought to regard, as an organ of taste, the surface of the tana of the stomach, which in 7. crassicornis I find covered with innumerable papille, not quite uniform in size or shape, some being more pointed, others more round, and averaging about ‘0003 inch in diameter.
4. Seng System. This is very simple, consisting essentially of a short tube descending from the centre of the disk, with an open extremity hanging loose in the body-cavity (Plate XI. fig. 1,¢). I have already observed that the inner edges of the septa are inserted into its outer wall, and these maintain it in place, while by their trans- verse contraction they can draw asunder its surfaces, and by their longitudinal contraction they can either lengthen or shorten it. The stomach-wall itself, however, is muscular; pone at least the layer of transverse fibres, though I
ve not quite satisfied myself of the presence of the longi- tudinal layer.
The form of the stomach is not that of a cylinder, but of a flattened sac, or of a pillow-case unsewed at both ends. This form may be well seen in pellucid specimens of A. dianthus, and in the smaller ILYANTHID#, and it may be examined by dissection in others. The excessive contrac- tion of the parts, and the copious excretion of mucus, do, however, present great obstacles to satisfactory demonstra- tions under the scalpel. I have therefore resorted to accessory means. A specimen of TZ. crassicornis fully expanded I treated with laudanum, drop by drop. It immediately expelled the water contained in the tentacles, causing these organs to shrink and shrivel, but not re- tracting them. The mouth, which had been pursed together, began slowly to open, and dilated greatly, almost to the concealment of the tentacles, the summit of the now flattened animal being almost wholly occupied by the
ping orifice. An excellent opportunity was thus afforded or examining the structure of the stomach, which was revealed without the excretion of mucus. The languor, too, induced by the narcotic, allowed the parts to be freely
* See Edin. New Phil. Journ., April, 1857.
XVI INTRODUCTION.
touched with instruments without much effort at con- traction.
The gular tube is remarkably corrugated longitudinally, the folds being so full, that a transverse section would present a series of figures 8. In the present state of con- traction there were horizontal corrugations also. At a short distance below the mouth the stomach ends abruptly, the edge, thin and delicate, hanging freely like a much folded curtain into the cavity. At each angle of this flattened sac the gonidial groove was conspicuous from top to bottom, inclosed by two slender columns of the firm cartilage-like muscle.
The diameter of the digestive tube is, when at rest, not greater than that of the mouth; indeed, the walls are in contact; nor, so far as my observation extends, are the ever separated except for the reception of food.
It has been customary to represent the stomach as a sac pierced at the bottom “by one or more valvular openings which communicate with the cavity of the body.”* But the case is as I have stated it: the free folded membrane hangs perpendicularly ; nor is there any thickening of the edge, nor any structure which at all resembles a sphincter. In tall specimens, I have observed, through the semi- transparent integuments, food pass into the stomach, and have marked that the morsel is invariably retained, never . passing through to the general cavity; but I am persuaded that this is effected by the common contractility of the walls, and not by a sphincter.
When morsels of food, such as fragments of butchers’ meat, are swallowed by Anemones, they are retained for some hours, and then vomited; and because little change has passed upon the solid parts it has been rashly concluded that no process of digestion takes place in these animals. On this foolish hypothesis it is difficult to see why food should be swallowed at all, or what need the animal has of mouth or stomach. Their ordinary food, however, is not mammalian muscle, but the far softer and more fluid flesh of Crustacea, Mollusca, and Annelida. Nothing is more common than to find large specimens of A. mesembryan- themum ox T. crassicornis discharge, soon after their capture,
* Siebold’s Comp. Anat. § 37. “The stomach with its circular aperture at the dase” (Teale). Johnston, indeed, denies it any aperture at all :— “ There is no — other visible exit from the stomach than the mouth.”
INTRODUCTION. xvii
the shell of a crab, or a limpet, from which the entire flesh has been removed and replaced by a tenacious glaire. No doubt the first part of the process consists largely of ma- ceration, and continued pressure, by means of which the juices of the food are extracted.
The nutritive matters thus obtained are then subjected to the action of the bile. No anatomist, I believe, has as yet attributed a liver to these animals, but I have little doubt that such is the character of a structure which I am about to describe. In dianthus, crassicornis, Peachia undata, and others, the stomach-wall is lined on the interior side of its upper portion (the side, I mean, which is within the interseptal chambers) with a thick highly-coloured sub- stance. In the first two named this is yellow or orange, in the last salmon-red. This lining is (dianthus) about half a line in thickness, of a pulpy tissue, arranged in ous lobules, covered with a cittatad epithelium (Plate XI. fig. 1,d). On being crushed down, the pulp is found to be composed of a nearly uniform mass of a ae fat-cells, the largest of which are about ‘0003 inch im diameter, and the smallest immeasurable points. Cnide occur numerously in the true stomach-wall, but none in this lining-coat. I am justified, then, in presuming this organ, from its colour, form, position, and structure, to be a liver.*
In Aiptasia I find what I think an analogous structure, but with a slightly varied position. The septa, instead of being inserted into the stomach-wall from the point where they spring off to the summit, recede from it at their upper part, where their edges carry rounded pulpy lobes, which under pressure consist of a clear tenacious sarcode, i a moderate number of brown pigment-cells. The sarcode is composed of globose cells, averaging ‘0005 inch in diameter, each containing more or fewer oil-globules,
* As an example of the need of caution in such observations as these, I may be pardoned for mentioning the following circumstance :—While viewing the surface of the pulpy tissue above described under a good reflected light with a power of 133 diameters, I saw it forming i lobes, with deep narrow sinuous depressions. Over the surface, and chiefly following the lines of the sinuosities, I noticed meandering white lines, like very slender branching threads. The thought that I had dis- eoyered veritable nerves immediately occurred to me; but turning the the light, +. ergy set to test the observation with a different angle of ight, I foun been looking at merely the light reflected from the edge of the smooth lobules / at . .
XViil INTRODUCTION.
averaging ‘0005 inch, but some attaining 0003. These are very numerous in the mass.
5. Circulatory and Respiratory systems. These exist in so simple a condition that we can scarcely separate them in our investigations. Dr. Williams has distinguished by the term Chylaqueous fluid, “that fluid which occupies the gastric and perigastric cavities of all animals below the Annelida.” * It is far less vitalized than true blood, but still it is not mere water, being impregnated with organized corpuscles and slightly albuminized. In the animals of the class before us there is no blood, and no vascular system, but the cavity of the body is ample, and is copiously occupied by a transparent fluid, which has by some been mistaken for sea-water. I have, however, proved by ex- periments, recorded elsewhere,t on numerous species, that this fluid is copiously provided with organic corpuscles, circular or ovate disks, granulose in character, of a clear yellow colour, varying from ‘0001 to ‘0008 inch in diameter, the larger ones inclosing oil-globules. The fluid coagulates on the addition of ttitric acid, showing that it holds albu- men in solution.
It would appear that the action of the stomach is confined to the solution and extraction of albumen and oil, which are carried with sea-water into the general cavity, the com- pound being a chylaqueous fluid; and that it is in the upper part of the interseptal chambers that it is acted upon by the biliary secretion.
_ For the free circulation of this fluid to every part of the interior, the whole body is lined with a delicate, strongly ciliated epithelium. ‘The ciliary current is upward: when a pellucid dianthus has its fosse much exposed, it is quite easy to see the current driving up from every part of the interior along the whole inner wall, and passing into the tentacles, up which the atoms are then hurled. I believe there is no change in the set of this current: for though atoms are seen, especially at the bottom of the tentacles, occasionally to pass annularly or diagonally ; and though of course there must be a‘return of the fluid driven up- ward—for there does not appear, with the closest watching, a trace of exit at the tip of the tentacles; and though, indeed, atoms are seen, though rarely, to pass downward,— I think these irregular and retrograde movements are
* Phil. Trans. 1852. + Annals of Nat. Hist.; March, 1858.
—— ee ne
INTRODUCTION. xix
merely the mechanical result of the impact of the ciliary current on the closed tip. If so, the current runs upward on the whole inner surface of the walls, and then returns _ down the centre. And this, I am persuaded, is the case. That the tentacles are perforated at the tip is, however, certain : but it is closed or opened at the will of the animal, the outer annular layer of fibres acting as a sphincter. Nothing is more common than to see a fully expand indi- vidual of TZ. crassicornis, when suddenly alarmed, eject slender streams of water from the tips of its tentacles; and _- [have seen an instance in which, the animal being but just _ covered with water, the jets were projected to a height of _ three inches above the surface. In S. bellis, after macera- tion, the slightest pressure on these organs causes the _ pigment to ooze out at the tip. In many that I so treated, _ not one allowed it to escape at the side; nor in any case _ was there the least appearance of resistance, suddenly _ yielding as if by a rupture; nor did the aperture in any ' ease enlarge, nor was it in any case otherwise than at the
| precise extremity. From which circumstances I infer a ' natural foramen there; and think that it exists in all | species, except those (as Corynactis and Caryophyllia) | which have a globose appendage at the extremity of the tentacle.
| The circulation of the nutrient fluid is aided by a curious | apparatus of foramina, of which I have met with no _ deseription. It is difficult to find them in dissection, for _ they appear to close with contraction; but in bells, on _ making a transverse section just below the disk, I have _ found a small round aperture in each primary and secon- _ dary septum, through wk I could thrust a probe without laceration. It is during life, however, that, under certain + favourable circumstances (for they cannot at all times be _ detected), they must be studied. In dianthus, when very . _ much distended, I have seen the principal septa perforated _ with a large circular foramen in the midst of their broadest ede resembling iron girders supporting a floor, excavated for lightness (Plate XI. fig. 1,). In Anthea cereus they are conspicuous ;* but I have been unable to detect them in T. crassicornis or in Corynactis.
* The most satisfactory observations I have made on these perforations _ were on a specimen of Anthea cereus, var. sulphurea. Being very much _ expanded, and distended to translucency, the base adherent to the side of _ a glass tank, the column greatly “os the base, the window opposite,
Xx INTRODUCTION.
That the function of Respiration should be widely dif- fused and very simple in these animals will follow from what has been said. The chylaqueous fluid, consisting largely of sea-water admitted freely from without, is itself a reservoir of oxygen, and thus its organized elements are perpetually aérated. We have already seen how the ciliary currents within maintain a constant succession of the bathing fluid upon every part; and there can be no doubt that some mode of exit is provided for the effete water. What this is, however, I know not. In Cerianthus, which has a posterior foramen to the body-cavity, I have seen the water forcibly ejected from this aperture (see infra, p. 272) ; I have also marked a sudden jet d'eau from the disk (pro- bably from the mouth, but of this I was not sure) of T. crassicornis, which shot up some mucous shreds with force to the surface, a height of some five inches. Perhaps these expulsions, and those from the tentacle-tips already alluded to, may be set down as so many expirations (per- haps periodical) of deoxygenated water.
Ancillary to respiration, as renewing the water in the vicinity of the animal, is the ciliation of the external sur- face. This is strong and uniform on the tentacles, but I have never been able satisfactorily to trace it on the column. It is first visible at the margin, flowing in an even current up the tentacle, on every side, from the foot to the
I saw with a lens, for an hour together, with the utmost distinctness, a small circular (oval in perspective) foramen in each septum. That is, I saw ‘them in a dozen or more successive septa, without interruption. The diameter of the foramen was about the same as that of a tentacle near the tip, in its ordinary state of extension. That the foramina were in films whose surfaces were coincident with the line of vision, and not transverse to it, I proved, by moving my eye to the right and left, by which the foramen became more and more round, or more and more linear, the line in the latter case being that of the axis of the column. Hence they must have been in films running from the column-wall towards the axis perpen- dicularly, as regards the position of the animal ;—conditions which agree with the septa, and with them only.
The next day, with a very favourable sight, I traced the foramina conse- cutively for half the cireumference ef the animal. In this space there were 49 septa (perhaps one more than the half, for I bisected only with my eye) ; and I found that the foramina are pierced through those which are entire (by far the greater number), but that the series is interrupted irre- gularly by those imperfect septa, which span the cavity like an arch. The latter were invariably two together, differing much in the height of the arch, and graduated in this respect. The detail of the numbers of the consecutive septa, in the half-animal, stands thus :—
Perforate—- 18 ope Bap LO: eA re 3D aie Impertorate—- 4. 2 5) 2. a 2 42 a Se eee
a
INTRODUCTION. xxi
tip, where it passes off. Balanophyllia presents an exce jes) to this rule, which I aver Seand to hold good in all _ other examined cases. In this instance, the tentacles, which _are densely clothed with palpocils, seem to me destitute of external cilia, while all the scarlet parts are furnished with these latter. The ciliary currents flow down the sides of the column, and wp the conical mouth from the whole cireumference of the disk. 6. Reproductive System. The ACTINARIA increase by taneous fission, by gemmation, and by generation. _ Fission takes place either by a longitudinal division of the ' entire animal from above downwards, or by separation of small fragments from the edge of the base, which soon _ develop themselves into minute and apparently young indi- _yiduals. The former mode appears to be not uncommon _ with Anthea cereus (see infra, p. 169); and an imperfect _ form of the same produces double-disked individuals of _ Aectinoloba and Actinia. The latter mode is common with ' several of the Sagartiade (see pp. 19, 66, 86, 110). Gemmation,—the production of buds from the parent ' individual—occurs largely in the order before us, but prin- Ae apely in those which have a stony skeleton. According to _ Mr. Dana, whose classification I have followed, the Astrz- ' ACEA always bud from the disk, the CARYOPHYLLIACEA _ invariably from the side or base. But a specimen of _ A.dianthus has come into my possession,—through the kindness of L. Winterbotham, Esq. of Cheltenham,—which _ has two young individuals projecting one from each side, _ at about mid-height,—an indubitable example of lateral _ gemmation. The animal has continued in the same condi- _ tion for nearly a year, with no tendency to separate its ee peated is of course the normal mode of increase of _ the race. The sexes are sometimes united in one indi- | vidual (S. troglodytes, p. 100); sometimes separate (Stom- _ phia Churchie, p. 225). The testes and the ovaries cannot be distinguished from each other by a cursory examination; _ each consists of a pulpy mass, usually of an orange or pale salmon-colour, attached to the free edges of the septa. The _ peritoneal membrane which invests each side of the septum is produced beyond the muscular layers in the form of _ @ mesentery of two films in contact (Plate XI. fig. 1, e). At some distance from the edge of the septum, the films
XXil INTRODUCTION.
separate, and inclose the reproductive organ (f), uniting —
again beyond it into a second mesentery (g), which is
bounded by the craspedum (h) presently to be described. —
Both mesenteries are full and plaited, especially the cras- pedal one.
The spermatic fluid is discharged in a turbid cloud through the mouth, and is diffused through the surrounding
water (pp. 99, 100). The ova are also discharged through ~
the mouth, or through the gonidial grooves (pp. 97, 98, 99). The development of the egg is into an infusorium-like germ, differmg in shape in different species, but always covered with vibratile cilia, and freely locomotive. HExam- ples of the occurrence of these will be found infra (passim), and many highly interesting details have been recorded in the magnificent works of Sir J. G. Dalyell. The manner in which the development of the Anemone proceeds has been illustrated by Dr
surface of the globose embryo becomes the general cavity ; the edges then become incurved and descend into the cavity, forming the stomach; septa spring from the inner wall beginning from the summit and extending downwards, and tentacles bud from around the mouth. Eggs, germs, or fully formed young, are discharged indifferently through the mouth: in the latter two cases the embryos have passed their earlier developments within the general cavity.
7. Teliferous System. In common with some nearly allied forms the ACTINARIA are furnished with a system of armature of most extraordinary character. It is compara- tively a recent discovery that their tissues contain exces-
sively minute bodies, in the form of oblong or oval transpa-—
rent vesicles, which have the power of shooting out a long thread of extensive tenuity. agner first drew the atten- tion of physiologists to these organs, thongh he mistook their functions for that of spermatozoa; an error which was ena epe8e by Dr. Wyman, in his observations recorded in
ana’s magnificent work on Zoophytes. Their true cha-
racter has, however, been sufficiently established by many
observers, including Wagner, Erdl, Quatrefages, Kélliker, Agassiz, and myself. These bodies I have called cnide, or thread-cells.
The cnide, in the Actinoid Zoophytes, are not confined
to one organ or set of organs. They are found in various |
* Annals Nat. Hist. for Feb. 1853.
. Cobbold ;* a depression in the ©
=
et
: INTRODUCTION. xxiii tissues, and in different regions of the body. They abound in the walls of the pos 8 in the marginal spherules (of Actinia proper), in the corrugated integument that sur- rounds the mouth, in the walls of the stomach, and in the epidermic mucus that is thrown off from these last-named parts on the stimulus of irritation. But there are certain
‘special organs in which they are crowded to an extraor- el
egree, and which, so far as I] know, have no other function than that of being magazines of the enide. These organs are of two kinds, which I have designated respec- tively as craspeda, and acontia. e Craspeda. The peritoneal membrane of the septa, haying formed, by the contact of its two lamine, a kind of mesentery, separates again to inclose the ovary; again
unites into a second mesentery, the edge of which is ty
puckered, and thickened in the form of a cylindrical cor closely resembling the bolt-rope of a ship's sails, or still more the cording in the hem of a flounced garment. This marginal cord, bound throughout its length to the ovary, or to ies septum, by a mesentery, I call the Craspedum (Plate XI. fig. 2).
So far as my examinations have gone, the craspeda are found in all AcrinariA, and for the most part in great profusion. In T. crassicornis, for instance, they constitute an inextricable tangle of white frilled cords, seen every- where below and behind the stomach, and protruding through every wound of the integuments. The thickness of the cord does not, as has been stated, “increase from above downward.’ Nor does it ‘terminate in the.coats of the stomach :” if we gradually cut away the stomach, piece- meal, until the free edge has disappeared, we still find the eraspeda bordering the mesenteries of the septa, until the latter are lost at the point of their convergence in the centre of the floor of the visceral cavity.
The craspedum, under pressure, displays the following
‘elements. (1.) A clear, colourless, highly refractile sar-
code, which, under extreme pressure, has a tendency to draw out into strings, and long-tailed drops, like a thick oil on a wetted surface. (2.) Minute scattered granules, very irregular in shape. (3.) Mulberry-like aggregations of
ules, of a clear yellow hue, compactly built together, and firm, which have the appearance of being inclosed in a definite cell-wall. These are generally ovate, but are some-
XXiv INTRODUCTION,
what irregular in form. (4.) Cnide, in greater or less abundance, according to the species. As the craspedum flattens under pressure, these are crowded at the edges, and are seen to be arranged, more or less distinctly, side by side; their long axes set at right angles to the axis of the craspedum, and their emitting extremities either close to its edge, or projecting from it. he more dense their aggrega- tion, the more definitely is this arrangement maintained ; doubtless because displacement of their original position is more readily effected by the flattening action of the com- pressorium, when the cnide are more loosely scattered in the fluid sarcode. The peritoneal membrane which invests the whole is richly ciliated on its entire surface. (Plate XI. fig. 3.
Fn Acontia. Certain species of the Zoophytes under consideration have the faculty of shooting forth from the mouth, as well as from minute orifices scattered over the ‘surface of the body, slender flexible filaments, usually of an opaque white hue, but sometimes, as in Adamsia palliata, of a brilliant lilac tint. In some instances, as in Sagartia parasitica, S. miniata and Adamsia palliata, these threads are protruded in great profusion, coiled up in irregular spirals, and forming tangled masses that resemble bundles of sewing cotton. It appears to be a means of defence; and any of the species just mentioned may readily be excited to display these weapons by a slight irritation of the surface of the body. The slightest touch is usually a sufficient stimulus to the extension, which will often continue to proceed for some time, the filaments shooting forth from various points with great force and rapidity. ‘They have a strongly adhesive power, which, however, is not dependent on any superficial viscosity, but on the projectile power of the contained cnide, of which I shall presently speak.
If we carefully watch one of these threads, we shall erceive that after a time it is gradually withdrawn again into the body, by the orifice at which it was protruded. In the case of S. parasitica, a large species, these filaments, which I designate by the term acontia, sometimes extend six inches from the body, in a straight line. Yet in a few minutes the whole has disappeared. It is gradually cor- rugated into small irregular coils, at the end which is attached to the animal; and these little coils are, one after
PEST EO iS he ea”
INTRODUCTION. XXV
-another, sucked in, as it were, through an imperceptible
orifice. Acontia are less universal than craspeda, for whereas
the latter are always present, so far as I know, in this
order, the former are found only in the Sagartiade, and ponsps in the Bunodide. In Sagartia bellis they spring
m the mesenteries that carry the craspeda; generally two acontia from each mesentery, and most frequently in pairs. Their point of insertion may be anywhere in the ‘cent of the mesentery, great irregularity prevailing in Though at first it seems a solid cylinder, the acontium is really a flat narrow ribbon, with involute and approximate edges, which can at pleasure be brought into contact, and thus constitute a tube (Plate XI. fig. 4). Like the eraspedum, of which it seems to be a form modified for a special use, its surface is richly ciliated; and the ciliary currents not only hurl along whatever floating atoms chance to approach the surface, but cause the detached fragments themselves to wheel round and round, and to swim away through the water. Though there is not the slightest trace of fibrillz in the structure of the acontium, even under a power of 800 diameters, the clear sarcode, of which its basis is composed, is endowed with a very evident contractility.
Under pressure, the edges of the flattened acontium appear to be thronged with clear viscous globules, over- lapping one another, and protruding; indicating one or more layers of superficial cells, doubtless forming the peritoneal epithelium. As the pressure is increased, these ooze out as long pear-shaped drops, and immediately assume a perfectly globular form, with a high refractive power. Below these is packed a dense crowd of cnide, arranged transversely.
The Cinclides. The emission of the acontia is provided for by the existence of special orifices, which I term Cinclides. The integument of the body, in the Sagartie,
is perforated by minute foramina, having a resemblance in
appearance to the spiracula of insects. ‘They occur in the interseptal spaces, opening a communication between these ii pe external water.
€ appearance of the cinclides may be compared to that which would be presented by the lids of the human
XXVi INTRODUCTION.
eye, supposing these to be reversed; the convexity being inwards. Hach is an oval depression, with a transverse slit across the middle. When closed, this slit may some- times be discerned merely as a dark line (Plate XI. fig. 5, m), the optical expression of the contact of the two edges; but, when slightly opened (Z), a brilliant line of light allows the passage of the rays from the lamp to the beholder. From this condition the lids may separate in various degrees, until they are retracted to the margin of the oval pit, and the whole orifice is open (k). ©
The dimensions of the cinclides vary not only with the species, and probably also with the size of the individual, but with the state of the muscular contraction of the integu- ments, and, as I think, with the pleasure of the animal. In a small specimen of S. dianthus, I found the width of _ a cinclis, measured transversely, g}sth of an inch; but that of another, in the same animal, was more tlian twice as great, viz. 30th of an inch. This was on the thickened marginal ring, or parapet, which in this species surrounds the tentacles, where the cinclides are larger than elsewhere. Watching a specimen of S. nivea under the microscope, I saw a cinclis begin to open, and gradually expand till it was almost circular in outline, and gtsth of an inch in diameter. I slightly touched the animal, and it in an instant enlarged the aperture to zjoth of an inch, In a specimen of 8, bellis, iss than half grown, I found the einclides numerous, and sufficiently easy of detection, but rather less defined than in dianthus or nivea. They occurred at about every fourth intersept, three intersepts being blind for each perforate one, and about three or four in linear series, but not quite regularly, in either of these respects. In this case they were about sth of an inch in transverse diameter, a large size,—and I measured one which was even 3th of an inch. By bringing the animal before the window, I could discern the light through the tiny orifices with my naked eye.
From several good observations, and especially from one on a cinclis, widely opened, that happened to be close to the edge of the parapet of a iieanihiie, perceived that the passage is not absolutely open, at least in ordinary, but that an excessively thin film lies across it. By delicate focusing, I have detected repeatedly, in different degrees of expansion, and even at the widest, the granulations of a
INTRODUCTION. xxv
membrane of excessive tenuity, and one or two scattered enide, across the bright interval. On another occasion, in the ease of a cinclis at the edge of the parapet—a position singularly favourable for observation—I saw that this subtle film was meme * pushed out until it assumed the form of a hemispherical bladder, in which state it remained as long as I looked at it. At the same time the outline of the cinclis itself was sharp and clear, when brought into focus farther in. The film, whatever it be, is superficial, and does not a to be a portion of the integument
per. I take MI to be a film of mucus (composed of ea epithelial cells), which is constantly in process of being sloughed from all the superficial tissues in this tribe of animals, and which continues tenaciously to invest their bodies, until, corrugated by the successive contractions of the animals, it is washed away by the motions of the waves. As, however, one film is no sooner removed than another commences to form, one would always expect external pores so minute as these to be veiled by a mucus- film in seasons of rest.
That the cinclides are the special orifices through which those missile weapons, the acontia, are shot and recovered, rests not merely on the probability that arises from the coexistence of the two series of facts I have above recorded, but upon actual observation. In a rather large S. dianthus, somewhat distended, placed in a glass vessel between my eye and the sun, I saw, with great dis- tinctness, by the aid of a pocket-lens, many acontia protruded from the cinclides, and many more of the latter widely open. The acontia, in some cases, did not so accurately fill the orifice but that a line of bright light (or of darkness, according as the sun was exactly opposite or not) was seen, partially bordering the issue of the thread, while the thickened rim of the cinclis surrounded all.
The appearance of the orifices whence the acontia issued was that of a tubercle or wart, and the same appear- ance I have repeatedly marked in examples observed on the stage of the microscope; namely, that of a perforate pimple, or short columnar tube. This was clearly manifest, when the animal, slowly swaying to and fro, brought the sides of the cinclis into partial perspective.
On another occasion I witnessed the actual issue of the acontia from the cinclides. I was watching, under a low
XXVlii INTRODUCTION.
power of the microscope, a specimen of S. nivea, while, by touching its body rudely, I provoked it to emit its missile filaments. Presently they burst out with force, not all at once, but some here and there, then more, and yet more, on the repeated contractions of the corrugating walls of the body. (aatienslle the free extremity of a filament would appear, but more frequently the bight of a bent one, and very often I saw two, and even three, issue from the same cinclis. The successive contractions of the animal under irritation, caused the acontia already protruded to lengthen with each fresh impetus, the bights still streaming out in long loops, till perhaps the free end would be liberated, and it would be a loop no longer; and sometimes a new thread would shoot from a cinclis, whence one or two long. ones were stretching already; while, as often, the new- comers would force open new cinclides for themselves, The suddenness and explosive force with which they burst out, appeared to indicate a resistance which was at length overcome :—perhaps—in part at least—due to the epithelial film above mentioned, or to an actual epiderm, which, though often ruptured, has ever, with the aptitude to heal common to these lowly structures, the power of quickly uniting again.
It appeared to me manifest, from this and other similar observations, that no such arrangement exists as that which I had fancied ;—that a definite cinclis is assigned to a definite acontiwm, or pair of acontia, and that the extremity of the latter is guided to the former, with unerring accu- racy, by some internal mechanism, whenever the exercise of the defensive faculty is desired. What I judge to be the true state of the case is as follows: The acontia, fastened by one end to the septa or their mesenteries, lie, while at rest, irregularly coiled up along the narrow interseptal fosse. The outer walls of these fosse are pierced with the cinclides. When the animal is irritated, it immediately contracts; the water contained in the visceral cavity finds vent at these natural orifices, and the forcible currents carry with them the acontia, each through that cinclis which happens to lie nearest to it. The frequency with which a is forced out shows that the issue is the result of a merely mechanical action; which is, however, not the less worthy of our admiration because of the simplicity of the contrivance, nor the less manifestly the result of Divine
INTRODUCTION. Xxix
wisdom working to a given end by perfectly adequate means. ‘The ejected acontia, loaded with their deadly cnide in every part of their length, carry abroad their fatal powers not the less surely, than if each had been provided with a proper tube leading from its free extremity to the nearest cinclis.
The Cnide.—I come now to describe those minute but
potent organs which constitute the object of all the mecha-
nism above described. Four distinct forms of these cap- sules have occurred to my investigations; and these I shall treat of in turn. , (1.) Chambered Cnide (Cnide camerate). This is perhaps the most generally distributed form, as it is manifestly the most elaborately armed. It may be well examined in Caryophyllia Smithit. The globular heads of the tentacles seem, under pressure, to be literally com- posed of these capsules, the ends of which project side by side, as close as they can be packed, one against another. The form of these is long and slender, almost linear. The craspeda are also similarly studded with cnide, which are, however, of longer dimensions, and of fuller form. As I have seen no chambered cnide, in any species, so large as these, I shall take them as a standard for description, alluding to those of other species only when they differ from these. They are perfectly transparent, colourless vesicles, of a lengthened ovate figure, considerably larger at one end than at the other (Plate XI. fig. 6). One of average dimensions measures in length ‘004 inch, and in greatest diameter -0005. In the larger (the anterior) moiety, is seen, passing longitudinally through its centre, a slender chamber, fusiform or lozenge-form, about °00015 inch in its greatest transverse diameter, and tapering to a point at each extremity. The anterior point merges into the walls of the enide at its extremity, while the posterior end, after having become attenuated like the anterior, dilates with a funnel-shaped mouth, in which the eye can clearly see a double-infolding of the chamber-wall. After this double fold the structure proceeds as a very slender cord, which, foe back towards the anterior end of the capsule, winds oosely round and round the chamber, with some regularity at first, but becoming involved in contortions more and more intricate as it fills up the posterior moiety of the cavity. The fusiform chamber appears to be marked on
s
XXX INTRODUCTION.
its inner surface with regularly recurring serrations, which
are the optical expression of that peculiar armature to be
described presently.
Under the stimulus of pressure, when subjected to micro- scopical examination, and doubtless under nervous stimulus, subject to the control of the will, during the natural exer- cise of the animal’s functions, the enide suddenly emit their contents with great force, in a regular and prescribed manner. It must not be supposed, however, that the pres- sure spoken of is the immediate mechanical cause of the emission: the contact of the glass-plates of the compres- sorium is never so absolute as to exert the least direct force upon the walls of the capsule itself; but the disturbance
produced by the compression of the surrounding tissues.
excites an irritability which evidently resides in a very high degree in the interior of the cnide ; and the pro- jection of the contents is the result of a vital force.
In general the eye can scarcely, or not at all, follow the lightning-like rapidity with which the chamber and its twining thread are shot forth from the larger end of the enida. But sometimes impediments delay the emission, or allow it to proceed only in a fitful manner, a minute
ortion at a time; and sometimes, from the resistance of riction (as against the glass-plate of the compressorium), the elongation of the thread proceeds evenly, but so slowly as to be watched with the utmost ease; and sometimes the process, which has reached a certain point normally, be- “comes, from some cause, arrested, and the contents of the _ cell remain permanently fixed in a transition state. Thus a long continued course of patient observation is pretty sure to present some fortuitous combinations, and abnormal conditions, which greatly elucidate phenomena that nor- mally seemed to defy investigation.
In watching any particular enida, the moment of its emission may be predicted with tolerable accuracy by the
protrusion of a nipple-shaped wart from the anterior extremity. ~This is the base of the thread. The process of its ppc te is often slow and gradual, until it has attained a length about equal to twice its own diameter, when it suddenly yields, and the contents of the enida dart forth. At this instant I have, in many instances, heard a distinct crack or crepitation, in the examination of cnide both of this species and of S. parasitica.
en
Fi ie bi ;
i th
INTRODUCTION. XXxX1
When fully expelled, the thread or wire, which I distin-
guish by the term ecthoreum (Plate XI. fig. 7, 2), is often
oy: thirty, or even forty times the length of the enida ; ough, in some species, as in most of the Sagartie, it frequently will not exceed one-and-a-half, or two times the length of the enida.
he ecthorea, which are discharged by chambered cnide, are invariably furnished with a peculiar armature. The basal portion, for a length equal to that of the enida, or a little more, is distinctly swollen, but at the point indicated it becomes (often abruptly) attenuated, and runs on for the remainder of its jeneth as an excessively slender wire of
artia, the attenuated portion is obsolete.
t is chiefly upon this ventricose basal portion that the elaborate armature is seen, which is so characteristic of these remarkable organs. For around its exterior wind one or more spiral thickened bands, varying in different
ies as to their number, the number of volutions made by each, and the angle which the spiral forms with the axis of the ecthoreum. The whole spiral, formed of these thickened bands, I designate the screw, or strebla
Sie diameter throughout. In the short ecthorea of
(Bg. 7 0). the ecthorea emitted by chambered cnide from the cr of T. crassicornis, the screw is formed of a single band, having an inclination of 45° to the axis, and be- coming invisible when it has made seven volutions. In those from the same organ in S. parasitica we find a screw of two equidistant bands, each of which makes about six turns,—twelve in all,—having an inclination of 70° from the common axis. In those similarly placed in Caryophyllia, the strebla is composed of three equidistant bands, each of which makes about ten volutions—thirty in all—with an inclination of about 40° from the axis. In every case the spiral runs from the east towards the north, supposing the axis to point perpendicularly upwards. Sometimes, especially after having been expelled for some time, the wall of the ecthoreum becomes so attenu- ated as to be evanescent, while the sérebdla is still distinctly visible. An inexperienced observer would be liable, under such circumstances, to suppose that the screw, when formed of a single band, as in 7! crassicornis, is itself the wire; an error into which I myself had formerly fallen. An
XXXli INTRODUCTION.
error of another kind I fell into, in supposing that the triple screw of the wire in C. Smithii was a series of imbricate plates: the structure of the armature is the same in all cases (with the variations in detail that I have just indicated) ; and the structure is, 1 am now well assured, a spiral thickened band, running round the wall of the ecthoreum on its exterior surface. I have been able, when examining such large forms as those of Corynactis and Caryophyllia, with a power of 750 diameters, to follow the course of the screw, as it alternately approached and receded from the eye, by altering the focus of the objective, so as to bring each part successively into the sphere of vision.
These thickened spiral bands afford an imsertion for a series of firm bristles, which appear to have a broad base and to taper toa point. Their length I cannot determin- ately indicate, but I have traced it to an extent which considerably exceeds the diameter of the ecthoreum. These barbed bristles 1 denominate pterygia. (See fig. 7, p.)
The number of pterygia appears to vary within slight limits. As well as [ have been able to make out, there are but eight in a single volution of the one-banded sérebla in f. crassicornis ; while in the more complex screws of S. parasitica, Cor. viridis, and Cary. Smithii there appear to be twelve in each volution.
The barbs, when they first appear, invariably project in a diagonal direction from the ecthoreum ; and sometimes they maintain this posture ; but more commonly, either in an instant, or slowly and gradually, they assume a reverted direction.
From some delicate observations, made with a very good light, I have reason to conclude that the sérebla, and even the pterygia, are continued on the attenuated portion of the ecthoreum, perhaps throughout its length. In Corynactis and Caryophyllia I have succeeded in tracing them up a considerable distance. In the latter I saw the continuation of all these bands, with their bristles; but the angle of inclination had become nearly twice as acute as before, being only 22° from the axis. The appearance of the attenuate portion, as also of the base of the ventricose part, is exactly that of a three-sided wire, twisted on itself; the barbs projecting from the angles.
(2.) Tangled Onide (Cnide glomifere). This form is very generally distributed, and is mingled with the former
INTRODUCTION. XXXili
in the various tissues. In the genus Sagartia, however, it is by far the rarer form, while in Actinia and Anthea, it seems to be the only one.
The pretty little Corynactis viridis is the best species that Iam acquainted with for studying this kind of enide. Their figure is near that of a perfect oval (Plate XI. fig. 9), but a little flattened in one aspect, about 004 inch in the longer, and -0015 in the shorter diameter. Their size, therefore, makes them peculiarly suitable for observations on the structure and Aunetions of these curious organs. Within the cavity is a thread (ecthoreum) of great length and tenuity, coiled up in some instances with an approach to regularity, but much more commonly in loose contor- tions, like an end of thread rudely rolled into a bundle with the .
The armature of this kind does not differ essentially from that already described. It is true, I have detected it only in
actis, where the short ecthoreum of the tangled enida is surrounded throughout its length by a barbed strebla of three bands. The barbs are visible under very favourable conditions for observation, even while the tangled wire remains enclosed in the enida, but their optical expression is that of serratures of the walls, without the least appear- ance of a screw. This is the only species in which I have actually seen the armature of the ecthoreum in this kind of cnida, but I infer its existence from analogy, in other species, where the conditions that can be recognised agree with those in this, though the excessive attenuation of the parts precludes actual observation of the structure in question.
(3.) Spiral Cnide (Cnide cochleate). In a few species, as 8. itica, T. crassicornis, and Cerianthus Lloydii, 1 have found very elongated fusiform cnide which seem composed of a slender cylindrical thread, coiled into a very close and regular spiral. In some cases the extremities are obtuse, but in others, as in TZ. crassicornis, the posterior extremity tuns off to a finely attenuated point, the whole of the spire visible even to the last, the whole bearing no small resem- blance to a multispiral shell, as one of the Cerithiade or Turritellade (Plate XI. fig. 10). The ecthoreum is dis- charged reluctantly from this form, and I have never seen an example in which the whole had been run off. So ex- cessively subtle are the walls of the enida, that it was not
e
XXXIV INTRODUCTION,
until after many observations that I detected them, in an example from 7. crassicornis, which had discharged about half of the wire; Lhave not seen the slightest sign of arma- ture on the cethoreum. So far as my investigations go, these spiral cnide are confined to the walls of the tentacles, in which, however, they are the dominant form.
(4.) Globate Cnide (cnide globate)? In the acontium of 7. parasitica flattened under pressure, and finally ex- pressed from its substance, are numerous more or less globose or ovate vesicles, which’ gradually push out a cylindrical protuberance at each end, sometimes to a length equal to that of the original form (figs. 11, 12). These vesicles appear filled with a fluid of different refractive
ower from that of the clear sarcode in which they are folsed: but no sign of contained thread have I been able to detect, nor have I seen any discharge beyond the pro- trusion above spoken of. I am not at all sure that these vesicles are consimilar in function with the true cnide ; and I am still more doubtful about the bacillar bodies ound in the acontioid filaments of T. crassicornis.
In the indubitable enide,—those which I have distin- guished as (1) Chambered and (2) 'Tangled,—the emission of the ecthoreum is a process of distinct eversion. This is not a solid but a tubular prolongation of the walls of the enide, turned in, during its primal condition, like the finger of a glove drawn into the cavity. ‘Some of the observa- tions on which I ground this conclusion I have already eo but it may not be impertinent to repeat them
ere, with others which have since occurred to me, all proving the same fact. In the discharge of the ecthoreum of the tangled enzde, it frequently runs out, not in a right line, but in a spiral form; whenever this is the case, each band of the spire is made, and stereotyped, so to speak, in succession, while the tips go on lengthening: the tip only progresses, the whole of the portion actually diechsiaged remains perfectly fixed ; which could not be on any other supposition than that of evolution. In the discharge of the chambered kind, the ventricose or basal portion first appears; the lower barbs fly out before the upper ones, and all are fully expanded before the attenuated portion begins to lengthen. This again is consistent only with the fact of the evolution of the whole. On several occasions of observation on the chambered cnide of Caryophyllia, I
por ee '.; a;
peices pr peres
_ portion. But perhaps the most instructive and convine
LE TNE IE Ty FT PT CE TE a aa aad > eee OF
o 7 i .
Ce SI ai ae
INTRODUCTION. XXXY
have actually seen the unevolved portion of the ecthoreum ing out through the centre of the evolved ventricose example of all was the following. One of the large tailed enide of Corynactis viridis had shot about half of its wire with rapidity, when a kind of twist, or “ kink,” occurred against the nipple of the enida, whereby the process was suddenly arrested. The projectile force, however, continuing, caused the impediment to yield, and minute portions of the thread flew out, piecemeal, by fits and starts. By turnin the stage-screw t brought the extremity of the dischi ortion into view, and saw it slowly evolving, a little at a time. Turning back to the cnida I saw the kink gradually give way, and the whole of the tangled wire quickly flew out through the nipple. I once more moved the stage, fol- lowing up the ecthoreum, and presently found the true extremity, and a large portion of the wire still inverted ; slowly evolving indeed, but very distinct throughout its whole course, within the walls of the evolyed portion
ao : 7
From all these observations, there cannot remain a doubt of the successive eversion of the entire ecthoreum. It may be asked, What is the nature of the force by which the contained thread is expelled? That it is a potent force, is obvious to any one who marks the sudden explosive violence with which the nipple-like end of the enida gives way, and the contents burst forth; as also the extreme rapidity with which, ordinarily, the whole length is evolved. A curious example of this force once excited my admiration : the ecthoreum Pott a cnida of Corynactis viridis was in course of rapid evolution, when the tip came full against the side of another cnida already emptied. The evolution was momentarily arrested, but the wall of the empty capsule presently was seen to bend inward, and suddenly to give way, the ecthoreum forcing itself in, and shooting round and round the interior of the cnida.
The most careful observations have failed to reveal a lining membrane to the cnida. I have repeatedly dis- cerned a double outline to the walls themselves—the aa: expression of their'diameter; but have never
etected any, even the least, appearance of any tissue starting from the walls, as the ecthoreum bursts out. My first supposition, reluctantly resigned, was, that some such
XXXVi INTRODUCTION,
lining membrane of high contractile power, lessened, on irritation, the volume of the cavity, and forced out the wire,
The enida is filled, however, with a fluid. This is very distinctly seen, occupying the cavity, when from any im- pediment, such as above described, the wire flies out fitfully—waves, and similar motions, passing from wall to wall: sometimes, even before any portion of the wire has escaped, the whole mass of tangled coils is seen to move irregularly from side to side, within the capsule, from the operation of some intestine cause. Zhe emission itself is a process of injection; for I have many times seen floating atoms driven forcibly along the interior of the ecthoreum, sometimes swiftly, and sometimes more deliberately. . Nothing that I have seen, would lead me to conclude that the wall of the endda is ciliated.
I consider, then, that this fluid, holding organic cor- puscles in suspension, is endowed with a high degree of expansibility ; that, in the state of repose, it is in a con- dition of compression, by the inversion of the ecthoreum; and that, on the excitement of a suitable stimulus, it forcibly exerts its expansile power, distending, and con- sequently projecting, the tubular ecthorewm,—the only part of the wall that will yield without actual rupture.
The cnide cannot, I think, be regarded in the light of cells, since they are but the contents of other vesicles, which thus present a higher claim to the character of cell- wall. In the craspeda of S. parasitica, may be seen many of the chambered cnide, bearing this outer envelope, which, without determining anything concerning its nature, I shall distinguish as the pertbola. Many of the enide have ruptured their investing membrane, which gives way at no special point, sometimes at the anterior end, sometimes at the posterior, and as frequently, all down the side. The peribola thus ruptured, may be seen in many instances still hanging about the enida, while others are quite free from any remains of it, and in some cases I have seen the enida still enveloped in its peribola, unruptured.
The peribola I have seen investing, and hanging around the enide of the spiral and globate kinds, and this cireum- stance has afforded me an additional ground for presuming the latter to belong to this category of organs (figs. 11, 12, g).
It appears necessary that the cnzda should set itself free
———EEEEEeeeeee
INTRODUCTION. XXXVIi
by the rupture of its peribola, before it can effect the emission of its ecthoreum. At least I have never met with an example of the contrary.
It has long been known, that a very slight contact with the tentacles of a polype is sufficient to produce, in any minute animal so touched, torpor and speedy death. Since the discovery of these entde, the fatal power has been supposed to be lodged in them. Baker, a century ago, in speaking of the Hydra, suggested that “there must be something eminently poisonous in its grasp;” and this suspicion received confirmation from the circumstance that the Entomostraca, which are enveloped in a shelly covering, frequently escape unhurt after having been seized. The stinging power possessed by many Meduse, which is suf- ficiently intense to be formidable even to man, has been reasonably attributed to the same organs, which the micro- we shows to be accumulated by millions in their tissues. - Though I cannot reduce this presumption to actual certainty, I have made some experiments, which leave no reasonable doubt on the subject. First—I have proved that the ecthoreum when shot, has the power of penetrating, and does actually penetrate, the tissues of even the higher animals, Several years ago, I was examining one of the purple acontia of Adamsia palliata: no pressure had been
but a considerable number of enide had been spon- taneously dislodged. It happened, that I had just before been looking at the sucker-foot of an Asterina, which remained still attached to the glass of the aquatic box, by means of its terminal disk. The cilia of the acontium had, in their rowing action, brought it into contact with the sucker, round which it then continued slowly to revolve. The result I presently discerned to be, that a considerable number of the enide had shot their ecthorea into the flesh of the sucking disk of the Echinoderm, and were seen sticking all round its edge, the wires imbedded in its sub- stance even up to the very capsules, like so many pins stuck around a toilet pin-cushion,
To test this power of penetration still farther, as well as to try whether it is brought into exercise on the contact of a foreign body with the living Anemone, I instituted the following experiment. With a razor I took shavings of the cuticle, from the callous part of my own foot, as from the ball of the toe, and from the heel. One of these shavings I
XXXVili INTRODUCTION.
presented to the tentacles of a fully expanded T. crassicornis. After contact, and momentary adhesion, I withdrew the cuticle, and examined it under a power of 600 diameters. I found, as I had expected, cnide studding the surface, standing up endwise, the wires in every case shot into the substance. They were not numerous—in a space of ‘01 inch square, I counted about a dozen.
I then irritated a S. parasitica till it ejected an acontium, and taking up with pliers another shaving of the cuticle, allowed it to touch the acontiwm, which instantly adhered across its surface. I now drew away the cuticle gently, so as not to rupture the acontium, and examining it as before, immediately saw dense groups of cnide, standing endwise on the surface, the ecthorea all discharged and inserted in the substance almost to the very capsules. The groups were set in a sinuous line, across the cuticle, where the acontium had adhered, with scattered cnide between them on the same line. In one of these groups I counted thirty- five entde in an area about *0025 inch square.
These examples prove that the slightest contact with the om organs of the Anemone is sufficient to provoke the
ischarge of the cnide ; and that even the densest condition of the human skin offers no impediment to the penetration of the ecthorea.
As to the injection of a poison, it is indubitable that pain, and in some cases death, ensues even to vertebrate animals from momentary contact with the capsuliferous organs of the ZoopHytTa. The very severe pain, followed by torpor, lasting for a whole day, which Mr. George Bennett has described as experienced by himself, on taking hold of Physalis pelagica, was produced by the contact of the tentacles. The late Professor Edward Forbes has graphically depicted the “prickly torture’ which results to “tender-skinned bathers,” from the touch of the long filamentous tentacles—“ poisonous threads” —of the Cyanea capillata of our own seas; and observes that these ampu- tated weapons severed from the parent-body, sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor itself gave the word of attack. I have been assured by ladies that they have felt a distinct stinging sensation, like that produced by the leaves of the nettle, on the tender skin of the fingers, from handling our common Anthea cereus ; while, on the other hand, 1 have myself handled the species, scores of times,
OR OE ee
PS”
i ] ey wee
. INTRODUCTION. MD .>. 6.4.
with impunity. And I have elsewhere* recorded an in- stance, in which a little fish, swimming about in health and vigour, died in a few minutes with great agony, through the momentary contact of its lip with one of the emitted acontia of Sagartia parasitica. 1t is worthy of observation, that, in this case, the fish carried away a portion of the acontium sticking to its lip; the force with which it ad- hered being so great, that the integrity of the tissues yielded first. The Acontium severed, rather than let go its hold.t
Now, in the experiments which I have detailed above, we have seen that this adhesion is effected by the actual impenetration of the foreign body, by a multitude of the caeins, whose barbs resist withdrawal. So that we can with certainty associate the sudden and violent death of the little fish with the intromission of barbed ecthorea.
I have instituted some experiments with a view to try whether acid or alkaline properties could be detected in the (presumed) fluid which is discharged. First with a solu- tion of indigo, and afterwards with the expressed juice of violets, 1 occupied the plate of the compressorium ; and in the flattened drop wide the enide in the acontium of S. parasitica to emit. In the case of the indigo, the colouring matter remained in the form of masses, but the juice of violets affords an apparently homogeneous fluid, even when reduced by pressure to an excessively thin film. I could not detect, even with the most careful scrutiny, the slightest tinge of discoloration of the blue fluid,—not the most delicate shade of red or green—along the side of the emitted ecthorea, nor in the vicinity of the enide. And
* “The Aquarium,” ed. 1. p. 115.
+ Dr. Waller has recently recorded an interesting experiment which he made with Act. mesembryanthemum. He allowed its tentacles to touch the tip of his tongue. “The result was such as to satisfy the most scep- tical respecting the offensive weapons with which it is furnished. The animal seized the organ most vigorously, and was detached from it with some difficulty after the lapse of about a minute. Immediately a pungent acrid pain commenced, which continued to increase for some minutes, until it became extremely distressing. The point attacked felt inflamed and much swollen, although to the eye no change in the part could be detected. These symptoms continued unabated for about an hour, and a slight temporary relief was only obtained by immersing the tongue in cold or warm water. After this period the symptoms gradually abated, and about four hours later, they had entirely disappeared. A day or two after, a very minute ulceration was perceived over the apex of the tongue, which disappeared after being touched with nitrate of silver.”—(Proc. Roy. Soc.
P _ - April 14, 1859.)
xl INTRODUCTION,
though, in order to obtain a greater intensity of colour, I allowed a drop of violet-juice to dry on each plate of the compressorium, so that with a power of 800 diameters, the whole field was of a deep uniform translucent blue—still the ejected wire produced no.change of tint.
Such a test as this is not sufficient to prove that no acid or alkaline property exists in the discharged fluid, and still less that no poisonous fluid at all is effused; since that most concentrated poison, the venom of the rattlesnake, is said to change vegetable blues to reds, in so slight a degree as to be scarcely perceptible.*
Admitting the existence of a venomous fluid, it is diffi- cult to imagine where it is lodged, and how it is injected. The first thought that occurs to one’s mind is, that it is the organic fluid which we have seen to fill the interior of the enida, and to be forced through the everting tubular ectho- reum. But if so, it cannot be ejected through the ex- tremity of the ecthoreum, because if this were an open tube, I do not see how the contraction of the fluid in the enida could force it to evolve; the fluid would escape through the still inverted tube. It is just possible that the barbs may be tubes open at the tips, and that the poison-fluid may be ejected through these. But I rather incline to the hypothesis, that the cavity of the ecthoreum in tts primal inverted condition while it yet remains coiled up in the cnida, is occupied with the potent fluid in question, and that it is poured out pues 2 within the tissues of the victim, as the evolving tip of the wire penetrates farther and farther into the wound.
Perhaps it is not too much to say that the whole range of organic existence does not afford a more wonderful example than this, of the minute workmanship and elaboration of the parts, the extraordinary mode in which certain pre-
scribed ends are attained, and the perfect adaptation of the.
contrivance to the work which it has to do.
* In a communication made by Dr. M‘Donnell to the Royal Society, some experiments were detailed, which had led the observer to believe that electricity was the power in question. In a subsequent paper, however, that gentleman gave up his hypothesis. (Proc. Roy. Soc. Jan. 14, and Nor. 18, 1858.)
BRITISH SEA-ANEMONES.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS.
As it is of great importance in scientific description to employ precise terms for the various parts of the objects _ described, and for the conditions of those parts, and to use the same terms always in the same sense, I here define the | terms which I propose to use in this work.
_ The principal parts of the body of a Sea-Anemone are _ the following:—the base; the column; the disk; the _ tentacles; the mouth; the-cavity.
1. THe Base (Basis).
| This is the lowest part of the animal, usually forming | a flat area, by means of which it adheres to other bodies.
It is often EXPANDED (expansa), its outline being consi- | derably broader than a section of the column. In some | eases, as in Edwardsia, it becomes very small, loses its function, and finally, as in Certanthus, disappears. In _ Adamsia, it is greatly extended laterally into two wings, _ which, curving round, meet and unite by their edges,
_ forming a complete circle. This form of base may be
_ distinguished as ANNULAR (annularis). & , B
2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
2. Tur CoLtumn (Colwmna).
The body rises in a more or less cylindrical shape, when the base is attached, like the trunk of a tree, often grace- fully and rapidly diminishing from the basal expansion, and sometimes dilating towards the upper extremity :—this I call the cotumn. At the SUMMIT (vertex), the column is, as it were, cut off transversely, forming a distinct MARGIN (margo). In some cases, as in Actinoloba, the margin rises into a thickened PARAPET (tichium) or low wall, separated from the tentacles by a groove or FOSSE (fossa). In others, there is neither parapet nor fosse. The margin may be NOTCHED (crenata); or, instead of notches there may be distinct tentacles, constituting the outer row of these organs; in this case the margin is TENTACULATE (tentaculata).
The surface of the column may be quite sMooTH (/evis) ; studded with low warts,—WARTY (verrucosa); or marked with longitudinal sunken lines,—FURROWED (sulcata). When the furrows are deep and the intermediate spaces swell out in a rounded outline, it is INVECTED (tnvecta) ; when the column is surrounded by transverse wrinkles, it may be called INSECTED (cnsecta) ; when these insections are so deep as to seem to cut-off or divide the body into parts, it is CONSTRICTED (constricta) ; when the surface is crossed by numerous longitudinal-and transverse wrinkles, it is CAN- CELLATED (cancellata) ; when minutely and very irregularly wrinkled, like the bark of a rough tree, it is CORRUGATED (corrugata). Some of these conditions are not permanently characteristic of any species, but are assumed temporarily during the changes of form induced by contraction. As to substance, the column may be tough and resisting, approaching a LEATHERY consistence (cordacea) ; FLESHY (carnosa), when soft but moderately firm; or PULPY (pulposa), when very soft and yielding.
( : 4
i : than the rest; these may be termed GONIDIAL RADII (radii
i gonidiales).
AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 3
The WARTS (verruce), in some species, are hollow, and furnished with a muscular arrangement by which a vacuum
_ is formed, and the edges adhere firmly to foreign bodies; _ these may be called suckers (acetabula). Other species _ have the skin and the muscular beds beneath it pierced with minute orifices, for the emission of armed threads ;
these may be called LOOP-HOLES (cinclides).
3. THe Disk (Facies).
This is the flattened upper extremity of the column, as the base is the flattened lower extremity. Its outline is circular; and this is recognised without difficulty when, as is usually the case, the edge is PLANE (plana); but some-
_ times the edge is wAvy (undulata), as in Bellis ; or even
deeply FRILLED (sinuosa), as in dianthus. In Actinia
_ proper, the disk bears, just within its margin, a row of
SPHERULES (spherule marginales) ; and, in every species, it carries the TENTACLES, and is pierced at the centre by the MOUTH. CONVERGING LINES (radii) cover the surface of the disk, starting from each tentacle-foot and meeting around the mouth. One RADIUS on each side of the disk, leading to each MOUTH-ANGLE (gonidium), is often more marked
4, Tue TENTACLES (Tentacula).
___ These are hollow cones springing from the surface of the _ disk, and arranged in one or more series of circles towards _ its margin. When there are more circles than one, that circle which is nearest the centre may be called the First _ ROW (series prima) ; that which stands next to it towards _ the margin the sEconD (series secunda) ; and so on till we _ reach the OUTERMOST (series extima). With respect to _ each individual tentacle, its FRONT (antica) is that aspect
B2
4 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
which is next to the centre; its BACK (postica), that which is next to the margin; its RIGHT and LEFT SIDES (latus dextrum, l. sinistrum), those which depend upon these indications. Each tentacle has a FooT (radix) and a TIP (apex).
5. Tue Moutu (0s).
The entrance to the stomach is placed, as has been stated above, in the centre of the disk. It is surrounded by a generally thickened Lip (labiwm), which is sometimes elevated on a CONE (colliculus), and sometimes level. The LIP may be SMOOTH (/eve), or FURROWED (sulcatum) ; at each of two opposite points,—the MOUTH-ANGLES (gonidia), —there are placed two TUBERCLES (lentigines), between which opens an imperfect tube or groove formed by the approxi- mation of two cartilaginous bands: these grooves, one at each mouth-angle, may be termed GONIDIAL GROOVES (canales gonidiales). Their function appears to be that of oviducts. (In Actinoloba, there is but a single mouth- angle, and a single groove). From the lip descends into the cavity of the body a membranous veil, much gathered into folds, but free at the lower edge, like a sack without a bottom; this is the STOMACH (stomachus), of which the portion immediately below the lip may be conveniently termed the-THROAT (gula).
6. THe Cavity (Venter).
The whole of the region included between the walls of the column and the stomach-wall, and between the free edge of the stomach and the base, may be indicated by this term. It is divided into imperfect chambers by
* In Actinopsis, a singular form recently described by Messrs. Danielssen -and Koren from the Norwegian coast, the gonidial tubercles are prolonged
into a pair of long and rigid semi-cylinders, the sides of which are bent downwards, and the tips of which are cleft.
AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 5
P perpendicular muscular PARTITIONS (septa), all of which are
inserted into the column-wall, but advance into the cavity
4 in various degrees. Some are inserted by their inner edge - into the stomach-wall, completely dividing-off the cavity :
_ these may be called PRIMARY SEPTA (septa primordialia).
_ Others are placed intermediately between these, which do - not reach the stomach-wall; these are SECONDARY SEPTA _ (s, secundaria). Others, again, are intermediate between _ these and the former, whose height is still lower (these may _ be distinguished as TERTIARY (s. tertiaria); and so on, if _ there be any series beyond this. The spaces thus parted | off in the cavity, I would call mNTERSEPTS (¢ntersepta). ' The free edges of the secondary and tertiary septa, and also of the primary ones below the stomach, carry a thin
membrane which encloses the OVARIES (ovaria), and is
terminated by a sort of CORD (craspedum), much twisted and involved. Long MISSILE CORDS (acontia) are in some species attached by one end to the partitions, and lie coiled- up, or float freely, in the intersepts: these are, by the volun- tary contractions of the animal, forcibly ejected through the loop-holes, into which they are then gradually withdrawn. Both the eraspeda and the acontia are almost wholly com- _ posed of THREAD-CAPSULES (cnide), which contain a coiled . WIRE (ecthoreum). This wire is shot out under particular stimulus, and is an efficient weapon of offence ; it is usually surrounded with one or more spiral bands composing the
vd SCREW (strebla), each of which carries a series of BARBS
(pterygia) ; and the whole apparatus is a vehicle for the infusion of some highly venomous fluid. The different conditions assumed by the animal, may be
_ distinguished as the FLOWER (anthus), when the disk with
its tentacles is expanded ; the BUTTON (oncus), when these are retracted and concealed by the closing over them of the summit of the column.
CLASS ZOOPHYTA.
ANIMALS of radiate structure; of gelatinous or fleshy substance ; more or less column-shaped ; having, in general, one end permanently attached or temporarily adherent to . foreign bodies ; the other end forming a flat disk surrounded by one or more circles of tentacles, and pierced in the centre by a mouth opening into the digestive cavity ; furnished with offensive weapons in the form of capsules imbedded in the tissues, each of which encloses a projectile poisoning dart; possessing no special organs of sense.
ORDER ACTINOIDA.
The visceral cavity inclosing the stomach, and divided into compartments by perpendicular partitions of membrane which support the reproductive organs; germs ejected through the mouth.
SUB-ORDER ACTINARIA.
Tentacles twelve or upwards, rarely warty ; membranous partitions sometimes simple, sometimes depositing solid calcareous plates, which, with the surrounding walls, con- stitute the corallum.
TRIBE I—ASTRAZACEA.
Tentacles many, in imperfect series, or scattered; coral- lum (when present) calcareous, consisting of cells containing many radiating plates; the plates prolonged outward beyond the cells which enclose them. (N.B. No known British - species of this Tribe deposits a corallum.)
TRIBE IJ.—CARYOPHYLLACEA. Tentacles many, in two or more series ; mostly increasing by lateral buds; generally depositing a corallum, which is invariably calcareous, and many-rayed.
‘ TRIBE IIL—MADREPORACEA.
Tentacles in a single series, twelve (rarely more), some- times obsolete: gemmiparous; gemmation lateral: coral- ligenous ; corallum calcareous; cells [calyces] quite small : rays (septa) six to twelve, or obsolete : interstitial surface not lamello-striate. (Not British.)
TRIBE IV.—ANTIPATHACEA.
Animals with six tentacles, forming at the base horny secretions (fleshy, enveloping a horny axis). (Not British.)
TRIBE I1L—ASTRAACEA.
AWALYSIS OF THE NON-CORALLIGENOUS FAMILIES.
Base adherent at pleasure. ? ’ Tentacles compound (Nof British). . . . 2. . . Metridiade. Tentacles simple. Column pierced with loop-holes. . . . . ... Sagartiade. Column imperforate. Column smooth. Bicenel mates Ode se Antheade OS ea ae oer Actiniade. Column warted. . . . . Kota. Sane Bunodide. Base non-adherent. Lower extremity rounded, simple . . . ... . Ilyanthide.
Lower extremity inclosing an air-chamber (Not British) Minyadide.
8 TRIBE I.—ASTRASACEA.
All the members of this Tribe with which we are fami- liar on the European shores are simple, and destitute of a corallum. But when those of all seas are taken into con- sideration, we find that the majority are compound and coralligenous. ‘The increase of these is effected by the budding forth of new polypes from the single primary polype; and it is in the manner of this gemmation that the tribe Astreacea differs from the Caryophylliacea. In the former, increase invariably takes place by the extension of the summit, and not of the side or base. The process of widening, in budding polypes, may be confined to the parts exterior to the disk and visceral cavity below, or the disk and cavity may continuously enlarge; in the latter case, the buds open in the disks, the process of budding being the cause of their enlargement (DANA).
The greater part of the Astrwacea increase by disk-buds, and spontaneous subdivision; the disk of the polype, and the cell of the corallum, gradually widening by growth, and finally separating into two portions, which become in- dependent. A few only widen exteriorly to the disk, or in the interstitial spaces between the cells of aggregate corals (DANA). ;
The polypes in both this and the following tribe are many-tentacled; but, while this character distinguishes them from the two other tribes, it is of no assistance in discriminating those species with which we have to do. Moreover, as our Astreacea are all simple, it is difficult to apply the rule derived from the manner of gemmation. The spontaneous fission of some species, however, as Aetinoloba dianthus, partially, and Anthea cereus completely, may help us to assign their affinities; and their general resemblance, ¢nter se, and that of the whole to the polypes of the coralligenous Astreacea, leave little room for un- certainty.
af ‘ ;
4 as a foot, on which to creep, somewhat in the manner of a _ snail. They have always simple, smooth tentacles, arranged
in (generally) uninterrupted circles at the margin of the
9
FAMILY I.—METRIDIADA.
(No European species.)
FAMILY Il1.—SAGARTIADA.
I have thought fit to associate in this group those genera
_ of the Tribe, which have the following characters :—They
do not deposit a corallum. They have a broad base, capable,
_ at the pleasure of the animal, of firmly adhering to foreign
bodies, such as rocks, stones, and shells; or of being used
disk, but often encroaching far upon its surface. Their body is for the most part pulpy or fleshy, generally lubri-
- cated on the surface with copious mucus; its exterior is
often studded with sucking cavities, hich have the power of adhering to foreign bodies, by the formation of a vacuum
_ within the cavity, its muscular edges being appressed by
the weight of the supetcumbent atmosphere and water.
_ The margins of these cavities do not rise into conspicuous | warts when inactive. The integument is pierced with
loop-holes (cinclides),—special orifices, through which are emitted and retracted fleshy cords (acontia), which have _ their origin in the membranous partitions of the body- cavity. These are filled with capsules (enide), which are _ generally chambered, and which shoot a very short, but _ densely-armed wire (ecthoreum).
10
ANALYSIS OF THE GENERA. Tentacles moderately long, slender.
Disk perfectly retractile. Column destitute of suckers . . . . . . . Actinoloba, Column furnished with suckers. . . . . . Sagartia.
Column clothed with a rough epidermis . . . Phellia. Disk imperfectly retractile. Base annular; parasitic on shells . . . . . Adamsia. Base entire; not parasitic. . . Gregoria. Tentacles mere warts; set in eadinting’ hands (Not British). . . ear ea OMA
11
GENUS I. ACTINOLOBA (Buarnv.).
Actinia (LInNN.).
Cribrina (EHRENBERG). Sagartia (Gosse).
Base considerably broader than the column; its
_ outline often undulate, but entire.
Column pillar-like, in the expanded state; the _ margin forming a thickened parapet, or low wall, _ separated from the tentacular disk by a groove or _ fosse. Surface perfectly smooth, without suckers, but pierced with loop-holes, Substance approaching to pulpy. Disk deeply frilled at the margin; thinly mem-
_ branous.
Tentacles short, slender, not arranged in distin- guishable circles, scattered at their commencement about half-breadth of the disk, becoming gradually _ smaller, more numerous and densely crowded as they approach the border. | . Mouth surrounded with a thick lip; furnished with _ only a single gonidial groove, surmounted by a single pair of tubercles.
___ Acontia emitted somewhat reluctantly, but copi- ously upon occasion.
Only one British species.
ASTRAACEA. SAGARTIADA.
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. -—
Actinoloba dianthus.
Prats I. Fig. 1.
Specific Character. Body smooth, columnar when distended ; five inches and upwards in height: mouth strongly furrowed, rufous: tentacles marked with a ring of white. f
Actinia dianthus. Exxis, Phil. Trans. lvii. 436; tab. xix. fig. 8. Jounston, Br. Zooph. Ed. 2. i. 232; pl. xliii.. Daye, Anim. of Scotland, 235; pl. xlviii. figs. 6. 7; xlix. Gossz, Aquarium, Ed. 2. 182; pl. v. Tuawsett, Manual of Sea Ane- mones, 56; pl. i.
senilis. Linn. Syst. Nat. 1089.
judaica. Isr. Syst. Nat. 1088.
pentapetala. Penn. Br. Zool. iv. 104.
plumosa. Miter, Zool. Dan. iii. 12; tab. Ixxxviii.;
figs. 1, 2.
aurantiaca. JorDAN, Annals. N. H. Ser. II. vol. xv. 85. (juv.) Actinoloba dianthus. BuarInvitiE, Actinologie, 322. Sagartia dianthus. GossE, Man. Marine Zool. i. 28.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form.
Base. Adherent to shells and stones: expanded considerably beyond the diameter of the column.
Column. Smooth, lubricated profusely with mucus; destitute of suckers, warts, wrinkles, furrows, and corrugations. Substance fleshy, approaching to pulpy. Form cylindrical, terminating in a simple thickened parapet, which is separated from the outer tentacles by a fosse.
Disk. Widely expanded, thin, greatly overhanging the column, deeply frilled. :
Tentacles. Exceedingly numerous, moderately large and scattered at about the middle of the semi-diameter of the disk, but becoming smaller and closer outward, until they are excessively crowded, and very minute at the margin. In extreme youth they are comparatively few, and much longer in proportion.
Mouth. Not raised on a cone; lip thick, divided into lobes by strongly marked furrows, A single groove only at one of the mouth-angles, guarded by a pair of tubercles.
JOOMAMAS } ) 7 VLSNMNGA Viluvovs , S Viluvovs
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE, 13
CoLour.
Column. Olive, olive-brown, umber-brown, red-lead, pale-orange, salmon- _ red, flesh-colour, cream-white, pure white. [“Lemon-yellow,” “ peach- ~ blossom.” —DatyEtt. ]
Disk. Agrees with the column.
Tentacles. Generally agree with the column, but in the olive and brown varieties, they are sometimes almost wholly pellucid-white, and in all cases they are marked with a single transverse bar of white, near their middle ; most conspicuous in youth.
_ Tip. Always rufous, or orange-red ; whatever the hue of the body.
#4
Size. ‘Specimens occasionally attain six inches in height, and three in thickness.
Locality.
All round the coasts of Europe, in deep water, and on dark rocks between tide-marks.
Zs VARIETIES.
| -—S-«* These might be made as numerous as the various shades of colour above- - mentioned; but for practical purposes it may be sufficient to distinguish the following :—
a. Brunnea. Including the shades of brown, from dingy blackish olive, to warm umber, or fawn-colour. Sometimes, as in examples that have fallen under my own observation, the tentacles, in these brown specimens, are almost white, marked with the more opaque white bar. There is not the slightest reason to assign these, as has been suggested, to another species.
5 8. Rubida. The various tints of red, from the full minium-scarlet to the __ peach-blossom and fiesh-colour, may be classed under this variety, which ___ is perhaps the most abundant of all.
~~ ». Flava. Sir John Dalyell enumerates “ lemon-yellow” among the hues
of this species ; but it must be a very rare variety. I have never seen it.
| 3. Sindonea. Perhaps this is the most elegant variety ; the animal being _ lad in translucent white—“ simplex munditiis,” as if arrayed in the finest _ Coan vestments. It is not uncommon.
This noblest of our native Sea-anemones seems to be entitled to generic separation from the Sagartie, with which I have hitherto associated it. Its form and habit, its puckered disk, its crowded and fringe-like tentacles, its thickened parapet and deep fosse, and the presence of only
14 SAGARTIADA.
a single mouth-groove, are well-marked characters peculiar to it among our British species. ‘This last peculiarity isolates the species from every other with which I am acquainted.
The generic appellation Actinoloba, I have adopted from De Blainville, who formed the genus in his “ Actinologie” (1834). It is sufficiently expressive ; but objectionable on account of its construction. It is a good canon that no generic name ought to form a part of a second generic name. In this case the word is constructed out of Actinia, and AoBos, a lobe or flap: it means, therefore, “ the lobed Actinia.” If it had been formed of the element a«riv, a ray, the construction would have been unobjectionable, though the word would have been false in signification ; for what the French zoologist wished to express was “a lobed Actinia,” not ‘ a creature with lobed rays (= tentacles).”
The specific name, dianthus, is due to a pretty fancy of Ellis, the father of English Zoophytology. Observing the resemblance which the Actiniw bore to composite or many- petaled flowers,—a resemblance which is perpetuated in the popular appellation, Sea-Anemones,—he named such as were known to him after those lovely objects; bellis, the daisy ; mesembryanthemum, the fig-marigold ; dianthus, the pink. I do not know that we are to seek for special resemblances to the particular flowers chosen; one poly- petalous flower might have served as well as another : still less shall we find any etymological significance in the appropriation. For the latter we must go back to the flower. In the present case, the pink and carnation. genus is named dianthus, some say, for its great beauty (820s, divine, dvOos, flower); but it may be from its tendency to become double (8, the sign of duplication, SuavO)s, having
full or double flowers): the lexicons moreover give S:avOéw (from 81a), to bloom.
Se So
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. 15
_ Miiller has called dianthus the most beautiful of all the Anemones,—“ Actiniarum pulcherrima ;” and his verdict is surely correct, so far as it refers to European species. When we see a full-grown specimen of some of the more _ delicately coloured varieties,—the pale orange, the flesh- - coloured, or the clear white,—rising erect from its broad
- base like the stem of a massive tree, crowned with its
_ expansive disk of myriad tentacles, we cannot but consider | it a most noble, as well as a most lovely object. It is only | in expansion that it is beautiful. The button will some- times shrink down to an abject flatness, scarcely more than an eighth of an inch in height in the centre, the cir- cumference spread out on every side to cover an irregularly outlined area of some five or six inches in diameter, but no thicker than a card. In this condition it is almost a repulsive object, but, perhaps in a quarter of an hour, you look at it again, and the change seems magical. The animal has risen, and swollen, and distended its body with clear water, till the tissues appear plump, and almost transparent ; it now forms a noble massive column, some five inches high, and three thick, from which the delicate frilled disk expands, and arches over on every side, like the foliated crown of a palm tree. Then again, on some cause of alarm, real or supposed, it will suddenly draw _ in its beautiful array of frills, contract around them its _ parapet, and assume a distended bladder-like figure, with _ the clustering tentacles just protruding from the slightly _ . open aperture.
It is under the veil of night that the Anemones in general expand most readily and fully. While the glare _ of day is upon them, they are often chary of displaying M their blossomed beauties; but an hour of darkness will often suffice to overcome the reluctance of the coyest. The species before us is not particularly shy ; it may often
16 SAGARTIADA.
be seen opened to the full in broad daylight; but if you would make sure of seeing it in all the gorgeousness of its magnificent bloom, visit your tank with a candle an hour or two after nightfall. |
The membranous disk appears to be truly circular in outline, but so fully frilled that it is impossible to expand
‘it on a plane. There are commonly from five to eight broad and deep involutions, which are sometimes simple, sometimes compound ; in the latter case forming a semi- globular head of close slender tentacles, almost furry in character.
Mr. W. A. Lloyd has favoured me with the following note, on a tentacular peculiarity in this species :—
“In a marine tank belonging to a customer of mine, there is an Act. dianthus having one single long slender tentacle, high overarching the great fleecy mass of ordinary tentacles, and acting independently of them, very different from anything I have ever before seen in this species, and similar to the one solitary tentacle sometimes present in A, bellis.”
When very young, neither the frilled involution of the disk, nor the smallness of the tentacles, nor their crowded condition, is characteristic of the species. It is then very likely to be mistaken by an inexperienced observer for another form, or to be described as new. Professor Jordan has, I feel sure, fallen into this very excusable error; for the specimens which he has described* under the name of Actinia aurantiaca were certainly none other than infant dianthuses. ‘Their size,—about half-an-inch high; their hue,—orange or almost salmon-colour; their tentacles,—of a greyer tint, with a whitish bar; their locality,—the under surface of an inclined mass of rock ; their numbers,—
* In the Annals of Nat. Hist. for Feb. 1855,
eee) Se ee ee
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. “ 17
_ many of the same size associated together; their habit,— hanging pendent from the midst of the acorn-shells and . sponges, “like a rain-drop ready to fall;”—all agree i : exactly with the young of dianthus. My friend, inva private letter, tells me, moreover, that he is certain they _ were immature, from the length of the tentacles; and that _ . his brother suspected them to be the young of dianthus, "because he found old dianthus at the same spot. There can be no doubt that Mr. Charles Jordan is right. | A very heterodox notion seems to have obtained cur- rency, that this species differs from other Actinic‘in that it | is incapable of altering its place, when once it has selected it. Dr. Johnston says,—and his statement is the more _ surprising since he had seen “several hundreds of indivi- ~ duals,’—“ As A. dianthus is a permanently attached species, and cannot be removed without organic injury to the base, it has some claim to be made the type of a genus.” (Brit. _ Zooph. p. 234). If this were correct, the claim (which I have allowed on other grounds) would indeed be well founded ; but the statement is erroneous. Sir John Dalyell, | 4 again, while allowing that dianthus shifts its position spon- _ taneously, affirms that it cannot be compelled to do so with | ‘ impunity. In illustration of this assertion he mentions the ease of a very large one, which was attached to a stone too _ wide to be put into any of his vessels. In this emergency ie pabrensed the stone, laying it across the top of a jar, so _ that the Anemone should hang suspended in the sea-water. _ He had hoped that the animal would voluntarily quit its A and descend into the jar, but it did not; and, after "stretching itself for some days, it ruptured its body across _ the centre, apparently by its own weight,-and died.* _ Notwithstanding these excellent authorities, however, I
* Rare and Rem. Anim. of Scotl., 235. Cc
18 SAGARTIAD A.
can unhesitatingly affirm, both that the species travels as freely as any in captivity, and that it may be removed from its attachment with the utmost ease and impunity. In “The Aquarium” (p. 192) I had given evidence of both these facts, and experience has since confirmed them in number- — less instances. Instead of repeating my own observations, — however, I will fortify them with the authority of my friend . Mr. Merriman, of Bridgnorth, who has favoured me with the following remarks on this subject :— “‘ Dr. Johnston’s statement is not confirmed by my © experience any more than yours. I have a very fine speci- _ men of dianthus, which persisted in crawling up the side of © my glass,—a circular one,—until part of its disk was actu- | ally above ‘high-water level.’ A few days ago it became ~ necessary to empty my glass. Accordingly I drew off the — water, and the dianthus hung in the most disconsolate way, — looking very like an old wet kid-glove. Finding I could — not finish my operation without entirely removing him, I — worked him off with the back of my nail. Of course, at the — first rude touch on his base, he shrank up into a ball, in — which shape he continued, when I dropped him into some — water to remain until I could restore him to his own home. While here he became quite like a ball of cotton, so many | were the nettling-threads that he threw out on all sides. — In two hours’ time I put him back into the glass, having — taken the precaution to place a bit of slate upright behind © him, that I might not have the same difficulty again. In — less than six hours he had stuck as firmly to the slate as he © had previously done to the glass, and he has continued most magnificent ever since.” | In spite of Sir John Dalyell’s assertion, that this species — is “less hardy than most,” the fuller aquarian experience of — the present day enables us to affirm that no British species — is more readily preserved in confinement than dianthus. —
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. 19
There are probably thousands of specimens of ‘this fine eae now living in the aquariums of Great Britain and _ Treland; and a large number of these have been several f ~ years in » They continue to live and flourish, _ expanding and erecting themselves with the greatest free- - dom; nor do they seem at all affected by the turbidity of __ the water, provided it be free from impurity. I have had some specimens of rather large size continue for many hi months i in water so loaded with green Alga spores as to be almost. opaque, yet during the whole period they appeared perfectly at éase, and even increased their number by _ fissiparous division. It is the frequent habit of the species t= to crawl up the perpendicular side of the tank which it "inhabits, till it reaches the water's edge, a situation which seems particularly grateful to it; for there it remains from | week to week, daily (or rather nightly) projecting its columnar form in a horizontal direction, at the very surface, _ and then expanding its beautiful frills, so that the air _ bathes a part both of its body and its tentacles. I have never seen this Anemone increase its kind by | proper generation, that is, by the discharge of ova, or of i _ young. But no species more freely increases by sponta- | neous division. When a large individual has been a good __ while adherent to one spot, and at length chooses to change . _ its quarters, it does so by causing its base to glide slowly along the surface on which it rests ;—the glass side of the _ tank, for instance. But it frequently happens that small irregular fragments of the edge of the base are left behind, as if their adhesion had been so strong, that the animal a found it easier to tear its own tissues apart than to over- | come it. The fragments so left soon contract, become smooth, and spherical or oval in outline, and in the course ofa week or fortnight may be seen each furnished with a - margin of tentacles and a disk—transformed, in fact, into c 2
20 SAGARTIADA.
perfect though minute Anemones. Occasionally a separated piece, more irregularly jagged than usual, will, in contract- ing, constringe itself, and form two smaller fragments, united by an isthmus, which goes on attenuating until a fine thread-like line only is stretched from one to the other; this at length yields, the substance of the broken thread is rapidly absorbed into the respective pieces, which ‘soon become two young dianthuses.
_ It is to this tendency to spontaneous division that I would attribute the frequent occurrence in this species of monstrosity, such as two disks uniting into a single column. This is very common. Dr. Johnston supposes that such cases are produced by the coalescence of two individuals which happened to be in contact, and he accounts for its frequency by the gregarious habit of the species.* The possibility of two individuals thus uniting, remains, how- ever, to be proved; while the fissiparous habit, which is patent, is quite sufficient to produce the phenomenon.
I have been informed of a case, in which a young one was produced by gemmation from the base of the adult, without previous separation of the fragment.
When erect, and fully distended with water, the integu- ments and tissues become translucent, and, in parts, even transparent. In this condition, when favourably placed,— as when in front of a window, or with a candle just behind it,—an excellent opportunity is afforded of examining the internal arrangement of the organs, free from the confusion which the excessive contraction consequent upon dissection induces. ‘The septa are seen stretching away into the general cavity, and the acontia lying in many coils along the inter- septs; while ever and anon a minute coiled fragment, torn from some acontium, is seen driven to and fro along the
* Br. Zooph. 2nd Ed., 233.
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. 21
-intersepts, by the action of the cilia with which the inte- rior membranes are covered. Occasionally, such a spiral fragment is driven into the interior of a tentacle, which is indeed but a continuation of the interseptal chambers—and here it is hurled to and fro in the ciliary currents, now shooting forward to the tip, then slowly retrograding, then again whirled towards the tip, which it appears to make the most strenuous efforts to reach; the combination of the twofold ciliary action,—that which is dependent on the cilia that line the interior of the tentacle, and that which results from its own richly ciliated surface,—imparting a vacilla- tion and ever-varying impetus to its movements that may easily be mistaken for independent life. I have myself fallen into this error.*
The proper habitat of dianthus is the coralline zone. The trawlers in West Bay and Torbay bring up populous colonies from a depth of twenty fathoms. In Weymouth Bay it is specially abundant; and yet this apparent pre- eminence may be rather due to the fact that this celebrated locality has been so perseveringly dredged. Be it so or not, I can testify to the profusion with which the bottom of this bay, from the deep sea of the offing to three fathoms or less, is stocked with this fine Anemone. The oyster and scallop- banks of Portland and Brixham are favourite haunts. It is the habit of the species to live in society; and both the dredge and the trawl are constantly bringing to light clustered groups, as well as single individuals. Family groups are sometimes very numerous, as many as twenty being not uncommonly crowded on a single oyster-shell,t
* Devonsh. Coast, 116.
+ Dr. Battersby informs me that, in the summer of 1856, one of the trawlers brought into Torquay a water-logged board, about two feet long by one broad, on which were crowded between four and five hundred specimens of A. dianthus, of all sizes, but a considerable proportion of
them large, What was curious was, that all on one side the board were white, all on the other orange.
22 _ SAGARTIADA.
Of course, in so limited a space, a large proportion of this number must consist of small individuals ; and specimens in several gradations of development may often be observed, suggestive of as many generations, from the gigantic fore- father of the family to the tiny great-grandchildren that crowd around his foot, no larger than split peas. From the fissiparous tendency above noticed, it is probable that these multiplications are but essential parts of one individual, not his descendants ; analogous to the multiplication of a plant by cuttings as distinguished from that by seeds. There is no real process of generation in either case. What confirms my suspicion, that such is the true explanation of these congregated groups of dianthus, is the fact that, in general, all the members of each colony are of the same variety of colour. Now and then, however, we do see in the cluster a specimen of quite a different hue, as, for example, a dark olive one in the midst of a flesh-coloured group. In this case we must presume that there has been the deposition of a real germ,—the product of a really generative function— either from one of the individuals already settled there, or from some stranger. Flat stones, but more commonly large bivalve shells, such as oysters, pectens, and pinne, are the sites usually selected for the colonies of dianthus. But though the floor of the sea is the proper home of the species, it is found, in certain favourable localities, to con- gregate in great numbers within tide marks. Where a breadth of semi-cavernous rock, honeycombed by mollusks, and studded with Alcyonia, Tunicata and Sponges, darkly overhangs a tide-pool, as around Petit Tor, and in the caves of Tenby and Lidstep; or where an immense boulder has so fallen upon others as to present a broad under-sur- face to the flowing tide; I have seen scores on scores of dianthuses hanging, dank and flaccid, from the rock, each with a globule of crystal water, suspended like a dew-drop
THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. 23
from its drooping head. In general these are young indi- yiduals: I have never met with one between tide-marks, _ that exceeded an inch in diameter when contracted. What _ becomes of them as they attain riper years I do not know ; _ I can only conjecture that they may retire, during the flow _ of the tide, to a more genial seclusion at a tideless depth. _ Mr. Peach tells me that he finds the species in pools be- _ tween tide-marks at Peterhead ;—“ hundreds I have seen, _ some white and others brilliant red, side by side in the _ same pool.” The same excellent observer assures me that he has obtained it four inches in height between tide-marks | in that vicinity. _ The following list of British localities will show the general distribution of this species. _ Peterhead, Keith Inch (plentiful), C. W. Peach: Frith of Forth, Sir J. G. Dalyell: Berwick Bay, Dr. G. John- ston: Northumberland and Durham, J. Alder: Scar- borough, Filey, F. H. West: Sandgate (rare), Z. L. IWil- liams: Guernsey, E. W. H. Holdsworth: Plymouth, C. Spence Bate: Selsey, Bognor, G. Gatehouse: Weymouth Bay, P. H. Gosse: Teignmouth (young), R. C. Jordan: Torquay (young); Torbay, P. H. G.: Dartmouth, and up _ the Dart as far as Dittisham, EZ. W. H. H.: Falmouth, W. P. Cocks: Lundy, Morte, Rev. G. Tugwell: Tenby, P. H. G.: Liverpool (under the pontoons of the landing- stage), F. H. W.: Mersey Estuary, Hilbre Island, Z. L. W.: Morecambe Bay, Ff. H. W.: Clyde, near Glasgow (at low ebbs), Miss Anne Church: Cumbrae, Rev. D. Landsbo- rough: Belfast and Strangford Loughs, Dublin Bay, Dr. E. P. Wright.*
* Most of the above references rest on the authority of private commu- nications made to me by friends; whose names, having been once given at length, I shall thenceforward cite by their initials.
mA,
EE ENN eee CRE RIO Ma Ty iy
Dat Se a
24 SAGARTIADA,
Perhaps the most magnificent Actinia known is A. Pau- motensis, described and figured in Dana’s “‘ Zoophytes.” It was found at the Isle of Raraka, in the Paumotu group, by the naturalists attached to the American Exploring Expe- dition. It is twelve inches in diameter of disk, which is deeply frilled.
A, reticulata, from Terra del Fuego, is another fine and richly coloured species; with a frilled disk, and tentacles very numerous and fringe-like. Both these must doubtless be assigned to the genus Actinoloba.
A, Achates, a species dredged by the same Expedition, in thirty fathoms, on the east coast of Patagonia, has the frilled character of dianthus, with but three rows of ten- tacles, which are not specially crowded. It is evidently intermediate between dianthus and bellis; but further examination is necessary to determine to which genus it rightly belongs.
I may, however, venture to exhibit the affinities of our Anemone in the following gradation ; distinguishing exotic species by [ ] :—
[Paumotensis. | [reticulata. | DIANTHUS. [Achates, ] bellis.
25
GENUS II. SAGARTIA (Gosse).
Actinia (Lryy.). Cribrina (EHRENB.). Actinocereus (BLAINV.). _ Base broader than the column; its outline often undulate, but entire. Column in the expanded state pillar-like, sometimes fe low and thick, sometimes tall and slender; the margin notched or tentaculate, without parapet or fosse. Surface studded with suckers, which do not form permanent warts; pierced with loopholes. Sub- stance fleshy, or pulpy. ‘ Disk sometimes wavy ; more commonly plane, some- times slightly turned-over at the edge. 4 Tentacles varying in number, form, and arrangement in the different species. Mouth generally elevated on a more or less con- spicuous cone; furnished with two gonidial grooves, each with its pair of turbercles. _ Acontia emitted freely and copiously.
—
ie
NATURAL ORDER OF THE BRITISH SPECIES.
1. bellis. 7. nivea.
2. miniata. 8. sphyrodeta, 3. rosea. 9. pallida. - 4. ornata. 10. troglodytes. 5. ichthystoma. 1l. viduata.
6. venusta. : 12. parasitica,
26
ARTIFICIAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPECTES.
Body salver-shaped ; disk strongly waved . . . . . . bellis. Body of the usual form; disk nearly plane :—
Tentacles without markings :— Disk and tentacles white. . . . 1... +. - nwea. Disk orange; tentacles white . . . . . . + . venusta,
Tentacles with characteristic marks :— With a B-like mark at the foot . . . . . . . troglodytes. A broad black bar above a narrow one at the foot :— Outer tentacles scarlet. . . . . + « « « « méniata. All the tentacles rose-purple. . . . « . «© + 108€0. Two broad black bars at the foot. . . . . . . ornata.
Two narrow black bars at the foot . . . . . . “tchthystoma. A dark line down each side :— The lines unbroken. . . . . oe ee Viduata.—
The lines broken into several Sleigh: + + « parasitica. Tentacle foot enclosed— Within a purple circle . . - + « « sphyrodeta. Within two unconnected sanitn cma nea: . - pallida.
SAGARTIADZ.
THE DAISY ANEMONE. Sagartia bellis. PLaTE I. Fig. 2. __ Specifie Character.—Body salver-shaped, the disk forming a shallow cir-
r cup, often wavy at the margin, of which the column is the foot. 2s small, numerous, in six rows, the outer ones mere crenations of
Exits and SoLanDER, Zooph. 2. JOHNSTON, Br. Zooph. Ed. 2. i. 228; pl. xlii. figs. 1*, 3—6. Gossz, Devonsh. Coast, 25; pl. i.
figs. 1, 2. pedunculata. Pennant, Br. Zool. iv. 102. Templetonii. Cocks, Rep. Cornw. Polyt. Soc. 1851. 8, pl. ii. figs. 10, 14. Actinocereus pedunculata. Buatnv., Dict. Sci. Nat. 1880; Ix. 194.
EsReEns., Corall. 41. Gosse, Linn. Trans. xxi. 274: Man. Mar. Zool. i. 28; fig. 41.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form.
ta Base. Adherent to rocks; expanded considerably beyond the diameter hs of the column ; the outline often undulate. Column. Smooth on the lower half, on the upper studded with suckers, - ‘to which in freedom are often firmly attached minute fragments of shell, 4 gravel, &c.; generally without wrinkles, furrows, or corrugations; but “occasionally invected. Substance firmly fleshy. Form exceedingly variable, sometimes being thick and low, nearly equalling the disk in diameter ; é put, when expanded to the utmost, the column generally takes the form of a comparatively slender, lengthened, and perfectly cylindrical footstalk,
jute notches which form the outermost row of tentacles. | Disk. In the condition just mentioned, this is a broad horizontal plate, _ or aslightly concave saucer, of which the rim is perfectly circular, though _ this form is often disguised by its being thrown into undulations, some- ___ times approaching to frillings. __ Tentacles. Small, but numerous, arranged in about six rows; the first and second series containing about twelve each, the third about twice
28 SAGARTIADA,
as many; the fourth again doubled; the fifth increasing in about the same proportion; and the sixth including about thrice as many as the. fifth. Thus the total number may be about five hundred. Those of the first row usually stand erect, the others decline more and more as they recede, until the last two or three rows lie quite horizontally, on the disk, to which the sixth row forms an exquisite fringe. Those of the first row rarely exceed one-fourth of an inch in height, and the others diminish regularly ; those of the sixth are very minute; the longest (for they are not equal) scarcely exceeding the sixteenth of an inch in length, and some being mere tubercles; these are slender, and set so close together, that sixty are contained within an inch. Those of the inner rows are usually marked with a depressed line or groove, down the middle of the front. Mouth. -Not raised ona cone. Lip-moderately thin, finely furrowed.
CoLour.
Column. Lower part flesh-colour, often flushing into pink; gradually paling upward to white, drab, or buff in the middle part: this as gradually becoming dull violet on the upper third, where the suckers usually are conspicuous as pale spots,
Disk. Dark brown or black, the radii separated by fine lines of rich vermilion, commencing at the mouth, and diverging till they meet the tentacles, passing a little way up the sides of each.
TENTACLE OF 8. BELLIS (front).
Tentacles, Yellowish-brown, studded with whitish specks, and varied with white or grey patches. There is commonly a dark-brown space near the base, bounded, above and below, by a band of pure white. Frequently groups of tentacles thus mottled alternate with equal groups of uniformly dull-brown ones; the regions of the discal border from which they re- spectively spring, corresponding in some measure, being either brown or lavender.grey. In many specimens a single tentacle, or sometimes two opposite ones, of the first series, are rather larger than the rest, and of an unspotted cream-white ; when these occur, it is generally in connexion with one or two white gonidial radii. In other specimens there is no trace of such a distinction.
Mouth. Lip and throat white.*
* The student will please to observe that the specific description is the description of but one condition, or variety. It is convenient to have a starting-point or standard of comparison, but it must not be supposed that this particular condition is the one proper to the species, and that the other
THE DAISY ANEMONE. 29
Sze.
_ The average diameter of the disk is about one inch and a half; but large
' specimens attain a breadth of twoinches. The height is dependent on the depth of the hole which they inhabit ; in general it is about an inch, but sometimes it is as much as three inches, the column in this case being about three-eighths of an inch in thickness.
LOcALITyY.
_ The south and west coasts of England and Ireland, abundant ; almost , unknown in Scotland. Crevices, and holes in rock, chiefly in tide-pools.
VARIETIES.
a. Tyriensis. The condition described above, which is perhaps the most ' eommon ; at least on our south-western coasts. _ B. Versicolor. Disk dull yellowish-grey, with radiating broad bands of _ black; tentacular border alternately pale blue and dull black. One large 7 tentacle of first row pellucid horn-brown ; the rest dark grey, or white, in _ -alternate groups. Column rose-pink on lower half, purple-grey on upper. _ Thus there are seven distinct colours in this variety, which yet is not at all _ showy.
y. Eburnea. Disk ivory-white (TUGWELL).
3. Modesia. Disk deep umber-brown, mottled with grey at the first row of tentacles, and merging into grey, lavender, or white, towards the third or fourth row. Tentacles mottled with brown and grey.
e. Sordida. Column dull wainscot-yellow, paler at the basal region. Disk blackish-brown, freckled with grey and white spots. Tentacles similarly coloured. General form thick and clumsy, without the usual tendency to assume a salver-shape.
| “varieties” are deviations from it. Those which I name versicolor or
_ 4modes‘a, for example, might as well have been selected for the standard as _ Tyriensis. Indeed the only true idea of the species must include all its “ We may attempt,” observes a master in science, “to reach what is
called the typical furm of a species, in order to make this the subject of a _ conception. But even within the closest range of what may be taken as typical characters, there are still variables; and, moreover, no one form, _ typical though we consider it, can be a full expression of the species, so long as variables are as much an essential part of its idea as constants. The advantage of fixing upon some one variety 2s the typical form of a species is this,—that the mind may have an initial term for the laws _ embraced under the idea of the species, or an assumed centre of radiation _ for its variant series, so as more easily to comprehend those laws.”—
(Dana’s “ Thoughts on Species.”)
30 SAGARTIADA
¢ Stellata. Disk pale buff; a broad darker circle at the commencement — of the tentacular border. Tentacles long and pointed; very pale stone- drab, each varied with pellucid patches, which give a pretty and delicate j effect. But what is most peculiar is the alternate depression and elevation — of the margin, a kind of frilling, which imparts to the disk a star-like form, usually of seven rays. This is a large and well-marked variety.
The genus Sagartia was established by me in a Memoir* read before the Linnean Society, March 20th, 1855. I then included in it dianthus, as well as the species to which I — now confine it. The character on which I mainly relied in constituting it, appears to me, on maturer consideration, to mark a group of higher value than that of a genus; and I have accordingly used it to characterise a family. Hence it became necessary to make a fresh diagnosis of the genus, which, though large, appears a very natural one. The name I have chosen alludes to the peculiar mode of dis-— abling their prey, by means of missile cords, which is possessed pre-eminently by the species of this group, re- calling to my mind a graphic passage in the writings of the Father of History. In the army of Xerxes, he says,— “ there was a certain race called Sagartians. The mode of — fighting practised by these men was this:—when they — engaged an enemy, they threw out a rope with a noose at — the end; whatever any one caught, whether horse or man,_ he dragged towards himself, and those that were entangled — in the coils were speedily put to death.” t
The specific appellation of the present subject is the botanic name of a favourite flower,—the modest Daisy ;— bellis, from bellus, pretty.
Though the Daisy Anemone is, as I have shown, subject to considerable variety, and has no one very strongly —
* « Description of Peachia hastata, &e.” Linn. Trans. xxi. 267. + Herodotus, vii. 85.
eC hE i La
THE DAISY ANEMONE. 31
_ marked, and at the same time constant, specific character, _ there is scarcely any of our species more readily or more certainly recognisable. Its variations are circumscribed’ _ within appreciable limits, both of colour and form, and it has little tendency to merge into the characteristic con-
dition of any other (British) species. Indeed, but {for the
_ needless multiplication of genera, I should be tempted to _ separate it from the other Sagartie, constituting for it, in association with two or three closely allied forms from the _ southern hemisphere, a distinct genus.
From the elegance of its form, and its ready power of
accommodating itself to captivity, few of our native species | are more favourite tenants of an aquarium than this. Its
habits, too, render it easily accessible. Within the limited
range of its habitat it is for the most part abundant. The
rugged, indented, rocky shores of Devon and Cornwall
seem to be the metropolis of the species: and here the
tide-pools, fissures, and honeycomb-like burrows of the Saxicave, are densely crowded with the pretty Daisy.
The broad front of Capstone Hill, at Ilfracombe, is broken, within the range of the tides, into a succession of narrow horizontal shelves, the angles of which run down into long fissures. The limestone promontory, known as Petit Tor, on the south-east coast of Devon, presents many ledges very similar in character, but more eroded into irre- gular holes and cavities. In both of these localities, bellis abounds, generally of the beautiful scarlet-lined variety, Tyriensis. Each usually occupies a little hollow, being attached by its base to the bottom, and expanding its beautiful disk over the edge. In the broader basins, moreover, which the waves have worn,
= hollows of the tide-worn reef,” overshadowed by ribbon-shaped sea-weeds,—which are the very counterparts, in the sea, of the hart’s-tongue fern
32 SAGARTIADE.
fronds which overarch the green hedge-banks just above,— _ larger and finer specimens occur, apparently each broad coin-like disk stuck on to the smooth wall of the cavity, but really, as you find when you attempt to capture it, imbedded in its own proper cranny, into which it can retire out of danger.
' But it is as common to find colonies of the species, inhabiting the long narrow fissures, covered with but an inch or two of water when the tide is out; five, ten, or even twenty individuals crowded together in a line as close as their bases, firmly planted side by side, will admit. Here, of course, when expanded, the puckered edges of — each disk press upon and fit into the mutual irregularities of the others; and the effect is very attractive, when the variety is that patched one, pale blue and black, which I have named versicolor.
I have much admired them in this condition along the foot of the lofty overhanging cliffs at Watcombe, between Teignmouth and Torquay. Huge masses of the red con- glomerate have fallen from above, and are piled in con- fusion along the whole sea-line.. And these seem to have formed a natural breakwater, protecting the base of the cliff from the action of the waves. Hence the lower part of the rock remains in situ, while all the upper and middle portions have been detached by the influence of rains and frosts, and have fallen; and this lower part forms a suc- cession of sloping terraces, averaging perhaps some twenty feet above low-water mark. Lach successive terrace dips to the northward at a very gentle angle with the horizon, so that the explorer has to mount from one to another in turn, while he pursues the line of coast, as each slope successively brings him to the water’s edge. These ter- races are very rough, but not unpleasant to walk upon; and their angles are occupied with water, forming long
THE DAISY ANEMONE. 33
narrow shallow pools, the bottoms of which run down into _ thin crevices. In these crevices reside the Daisies in question, in great numbers, and some of them of very large _ dimensions, as three inches in diameter, when fully ex-
_ panded. They are, however, as I have said above, mostly
so crowded together, that they are not able to spread their blossom-disks fully, but are fain to accommodate each other, by allowing the protrusions of one sinuous and frilled _ margin to fit into the recesses of another. They thus con- _ stitute lines of variegated frills, in which the individuals cannot be separated by the eye of the beholder; and though no brilliant hues appear, there is sufficient contrast between _ the black and the white, the blue and the grey, all _ puckered and convoluted as the fringed outlines are, to _ gratify the eye.
| Nor are these very difficult of possession. For the con- glomerate, though hard, yields readily to the chisel, and the edges of the crevices present in many cases fair angles for the blows of the experienced collector.
The Daisy is not unfrequently brought up in the dredge from a few fathoms’ depth. In Weymouth Bay I have repeatedly obtained it thus, but still maintaining its wonted troglodyte habit; for its favourite domicile is one of the deep angular chambers formed by the leafy expansions of _ that fine coral-like Polyzoan, Eschara foliacea.
But Weymouth possesses a breed of the species which deviates much more widely from the normal habit. It is _ the variety which I have called sordida, having an eye not less to its filthy dwelling-place than to its dirty colour. The broad expanse of fetid mud, either wholly bare at
low tide, or covered only with a foot or two of water, that - floors the two inlets called the Fleet and the Backwater,
is studded with multitudes of these dingy Anemones. The soft slimy mud affords no proper surface for adhesion ; D
34 SAGARTIADZ.
and hence the animals can scarcely be said to adhere in the manner of the family, but simply to rest on the broad base. This is not, however, indicative of any defect in ~ the power of adhesion; for on being removed to a basin — of sea-water, they are soon found firmly attached to the bottom and sides. |
With these exceptions I have not found dellis at Wey- mouth ; which is the more remarkable since the long ledges — of low rock, broken into fissures, and excavated into num-= — berless hollows, would seem to present a favourable site for it. But since my residence there, it has yielded, in con-— siderable abundance, the beautiful variety stellata ; which, as I understand, occurs to the north-east of the town.
In Dr. Johnston’s Brit. Zooph. (p. 231) may be found some curious figures by Mr. Cocks, illustrative of the pro- — tean mutability of shape manifested by this species. This depends on the power of distending the body generally with water, together with that of strongly seine some part, the constriction ever moving its place.
Several of the Sagartie (as S. bellis, miniata, and troglodytes) have a singular habit of elongating to an im- mense extent one of the tentacles, while all the rest remain in the ordinary condition. The phenomenon has once or twice fallen under my own observation, but I will describe it in the words of some of my kind correspondents, who have from time to time directed my attention to it,
It seems to have been first noticed in S. troglodytes by — Mr. Hugh Owen of Bristol, who, in May, 1856, mentioned the fact in a letter tome. Soon afterwards he observed the same phenomenon in “a loosely-formed dellis, with longer — tentacula than usual, found ina cave at Tenby.” “I was, a few days since,” he writes, “ watching it closely, when one tentacle began to extend itself; and for an hour I watched © its motions. The animal is about an inch and a half in
THE DAISY ANEMONE. 35
extreme diameter, and it threw out its tentacle to a dis- tance of three inches from the margin. Of course all colour disappears, and it requires one to be looking for the fact to observe the transparent membranous nature of the ex- tended limb. I tried if its object was seeking for food, by dropping a scrap of meat in the way of the tentacle: it was seized and carried to the oral disk instantly.”
The same gentleman in a subsequent letter (dated 7th — July, 1856) thus continues his observations :—“ Another specimen of bellis, from Ilfracombe, of a dark self-colour (chocolate or umber-brown), is constantly extending the tentacles to full four times their length under ordi cir- cumstances; and on one occasion I have seen a tentacle on each side thrown ont so long as to command fully a circle of six inches in diameter. After the extension, I observe that the tentacle assumes for several hours a white appearance, increasing in intensity towards the extreme tip. This ex- treme extensility is interesting, as showing the resources of the animal in commanding a larger range for feeding: and the modus operandi is no less curious; for, after having reached the utmost length, any nearer spot is examined by curling the tentacle into a variety of elegant curves and rings.”
Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth has also favoured me with some interesting observations on the same curious habit. Referring to an example which he had already described to me in the case of S. mintata, and which will be detailed in its place,* this excellent observer says :—“‘ Since my last letter I have seen the elongation of one of the tentacles of the first row in bellis. The ordinary shape and proportious were retained, but the arm was stretched to more than twice its natural length, yet without any appearance of unnatural tension or straining: it was constantly in motion,
* See infra, p. 44. D2
36 SAGARTIADA.
apparently feeling about for something, but assumed its usual size after a few hours. It was altogether very dif- ferent from what I have observed in the case of miniata.”
The Daisy is prolific in captivity. Mr. Holdsworth tells me that he has known 146, 160, and nearly 300 thrown out from single individuals in one day. They appear be- tween the tubercles at the summit of the gonidial grooves ; these grooves evidently acting as ducts for the transmission of the fully-formed young from the intersepts to the exter- nal world, and doubtless for that of the ova, when these are discharged. The characteristic form and markings are dis- . tinctly recognisable in the newly-born young; their prin- cipal distinction, besides size, consisting in the fewness of their tentacles, which are commonly twelve in number, and in the comparative length of these organs, which is much greater than in the adult. Mr. Holdsworth says: “I have observed in this species, as well as in dianthus, and [ Bunodes| gemmacea, that the size of the young varies with that of the parent,—large parents producing large young ones, and vice versd. I have noticed it repeatedly ; and the fact may perhaps be accounted for by the greater capacity of the larger parent affording room for a further development of the young before they are expelled than could be admitted of in the case of a smaller individual; for the mature ova, I imagine, are always of the same size in the same species.”
IT have already remarked that this species is easily kept in the Aquarium. It requires, however, some caution and skill in the manner of its capture; for, as it resides in holes and crevices of the solid rock, it cannot be worked off with the nail, like some others, but must be cut out with a steel chisel. And, unless this operation be carefully performed, there is danger of tearing away the animal from its base, the central portion of which may be left behind. In this
COME iho hot
THE. DAISY ANEMONE. 37
ease it will expand in captivity, and look healthy to the eye of the tyro; but, when examined, it will be seen to be 0 a stick thrust in at the mouth coming out at the Specimens so mutilated never recover.
oat more than ordinary treatment is required: for S. bellis. It is desirable that it should be gently pushed, base downward, into a hole of a piece of rock ;—flints are often found suitable for it;—or, if such cannot be readily obtained, two pieces of stone may be set side by side,-and the Daisy dropped between them. Then it will soon attach itself to the bottom or sides of the crevice, and expand its beautiful disk, like a broad coin, at the top.
8. bellis appears to be meeentiely a southern form. Sir John Dalyell, in his twenty years’ experience, seems never
_- to have met with it on the Scottish Coast; nor has it, so far
as I know, occurred on the Scandinavian or Danish Coasts, nor on either shore of the German Ocean. On the south- western shores of Scotland, however, it has recently been: found in some numbers. ;
- On the other hand, it has recently been obiained near Biaboiess Mr. Holdsworth finds it “ by myriads” near Oporto; Rapp and Lamarck give the Mediterranean gene- rally as its habitat; and De Blainville, more specially, la Mer de Naples.
The following list of British localities is as eekniote as I have been able to make it.
Guernsey (abundant), #. W. H. H.: Selsey, G. G.: Weymouth, P. H. G.: Torquay, P. H. G.: Dartmouth, E. W. H. H.: Falmouth, W. P. C.: Mount’s Bay, Gaertner: Lundy, G. T.: Ilfracombe, P. H. G.: Tenby (rare), P. H. G.: Holyhead, Z. L. W.: Man, F. H. W.: Puffin Island, Z. Z. W.: South Corrigills, Arran, 7. S. Wright: Cumbrae, D. Robertson: Rathlin, J. Templeton: Balyholme Bay, W. Thompson: Dublin Bay, E. P. W.
38 SAGARTIADA,
Of foreign species the beautiful S. decorata (DANA), found in the Lagoon of Honden Island, is closely allied to our bellis.
S. Fuegensis (DANA), from Terra del Fuego, avery fine species with rich yellow column and disk, and grass-green tentacles, has much in common with the subject of this article, but it has far more prominently the characters, that the tentacles are short, and spring isolatedly from the disk.
S. impatiens (DANA) has the habit of elongating the column pillar-wise, and of variously constringing and writh- ing the body; thus appearing to be intermediate between bellis and viduata.
It seems to be through bellis and. Fuegensis, that the genus Sagartia leads off to the curious Discosoma nummiforme of the Red Sea, in which the column has no appreciable height, the animal being a very thin, flat, circular plate, with the tentacles reduced to minute warts, arranged in groups which form radiating bands,
Of native species S. parasitica and B, clavate present, in the expanded character of their disks, marked relations with ellis. But a still closer affinity exists between bellis and Acptasia amacha, in the characters both of the: disk and of the column, as I shall notice more particularly when I come to describe the latter.
It ought never to be forgotten that the order of sequence which we are compelled to adopt in treating of creatures in a book—that of placing each species between two others —can by no means express all their relations. Every species stands in the midst of many others, some closer to it, some more remote, to which it is linked more or less obviously. “Ten or twenty links would often be insuffi- cient to express these numerous relations.” * To obviate
* Cuvier,
THE DAISY ANEMONE. - 39
: in some measure the false impressions liable to be pro- duced by this unavoidable order of linear suecession, I
endeavour to represent some of the radiations of relation; in
: the following manner, observing that more direct affinity is : (aR by the perpendicular order.
dianthus [Achates] A. amacha parasitica BELLIS B. clavata [Fuegensis] ? [impatiens] [Discosoma] miniata viduata. rosea
The late Edward Forbes described* what he considered to be “the Actinta bellis of British authors, not of Rapp,” but which certainly cannot be referred to the species as now recognised. He obtained several specimens by dredg- ing on the Manx coast in September ; and it would be worth while to examine that prolific locality afresh for the animal, which will probably prove an unnamed species. “The body is cylindrical, of a reddish, or reddish white colour, regularly and finely striated longitudinally and transversely, and having glands of a bright yellow colour, small and not _ very numerous, scattered over the surface. At the oral end the body bulges, forming a calyx [cup], on which the furrows are fewer but more granulose. When the disk is expanded, this calyx laps back, and is then almost even with the expanded tentacula. Disk angular, in my speci- mens square, surrounded by three or four rows of short tentacula, thickly set, of a white or brownish colour, varie- gated; having generally a white line down the centre of each. The disk is broad, brownish, or orange, with white
* In the Annals N. H. for May, 1840.
40 - SAGARTIADA.
lines. The margin of the mouth is bright orange. The animal can project its disk forward in a pouting manner. Tentacula and disk retractile. The specimens described. . were about one inch long when expanded, but I have seen larger.”
I have marked with italics the principal points in the above description, which seem inconsistent with the suppo- sition that bells can be the species intended. The figures (which are engraved from the late Professor’s drawings, in Johnston’s Brit. Zooph., 2d Ed. pl. xlii. figs. 3 to 6) can no more be reconciled with our dellis than the description.
_ ASTRAACEA. 77; SAGARTIAD#.
THE SCARLET-FRINGED ANEMONE. Sagartia miniata. Puate ll. Figs. 2, 3, 4.
Specific Character. Tentacles with two sub-parallel dark lines along the front : a white space at foot, crossed by a broad black bar, and a narrow one below it. Outer row of tentacles with a scarlet core.
Actinia miniata. Gosse,. Annals N. H. Ser. 2, vol. xii. 127. ornata. T. S. Wricut, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb. 1855. Bunodes (?) miniata. Goss, Man. Mar. Zool. i. 29.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
Form.
Base. Adherent to rocks and shells: slightly exceeding the column.
; Column. Minutely corrugated, studded on the upper half with large _ suckers. Substance fleshy. Form thick, the height rarely exceeding the breadth ; not very variable. :
Disk. Undulate, scarcely exceeding the diameter of the column; radii strongly marked, and covered with transverse striz.
Tentacles. Moderately numerous, arranged in about four rows. Those of the first row average in length about half the diameter of the disk ; the others diminish outwards, the last row being not more than one-fourth as long as the first. They are lax, and are usually arched over the margin, or thrown into sigmoid curves.
Mouth. Not raised onacone. Lip strongly crenate.
Acontia. Emitted freely and copiously.
ie Rye
¥
CoLour.
Column. Deep rich brown, of a tint intermediate between burnt sienna and scarlet, sometimes merging into deep orange, paling into buff or light red towards the base, and often deepening into purplish-brown towards the summit. Suckers pale buff, which in the button-state become con- fluent, and form pale radiating bands, around the pursed aperture. -
Disk. Yellowish or greenish-grey, the radii distinctly mottled with darker grey or brown ; very variable. Sometimes one, or a pair, of broad white gonidial radii.
se
aaa : is ‘ ws Peres}
42 SAGARTIADA,
Tentacles. Pellucid pale-brown, or yellowish, indistinctly annulated with _ dusky. The front face of each (except the outer row) is marked with two longitudinal dusky lines, parallel with the sides, and meeting at the summit: these are some- times interrupted by a pale band crossing the middle of the tentacle. Below them, at the tentacle-foot, is a large space of white, which is crossed by two bars of black; the upper one thick and very constant, the lower slender, and sometimes thinned away to a mere shade in the middle. Groups of tentacles often occur of a more or less opaque white, but barred like the others, with which they form alternate clusters. Those of the outer row consist each of a pellucid sheath investing a core of scarlet or brilliant orange, resembling in appearance the central gland in the papilla of an Eolis. This effect seems to depend on the pig- ment being spread over the interior surface of the wall of the tentacle, which is unusually thick and colourless. TENTACLE Mouth, Orange-red.
S, MINIATA ‘ ones (front). Specimens attain a height of two inches, with an equal width of disk. LocatLity,
The south and west coasts of England, from Deal to Arran. Rock-pools and deep water. i
VARIETIES,
a. Ornata. To the state above described, which may be considered as the normal colouring, I appropriate this name, which was applied by my friend Dr. T. Strethill Wright, to the species, which he described, believing it to be new. (Plate ii. fig. 4.)*
8. Venustoides. Disk rich orange. Tentacles opaque yellowish-white or pure white, marked, however, with the two. characteristic black bars; the outer row showing traces, more or less conspicuous, of the orange lining. This variety, from Ilfracombe and Torquay, has much prima-facie re- semblance to S. venusta ; but the specific marks of the tentacles, the strong crenation of the mouth, and the well-defined and concentrically striate radii are good signs of distinction. (Plate ii. fig. 3.)
* My friend Mr. F. H. West has received a specimen from the vicinity of Boulogne, with the disk more variegated than is usual with our specimens, and which had this peculiarity, that one-half of the disk was flushed with a by psa rose-pink, and the opposite half with an equally lovely shade of green.
LE
PLATE
MBAS.
Eines Pues ies
eek <t
-THE SCARLET-FRINGED ANEMONE. 43
y. Rosecides, Column orange-brown; disk pale yellowish-grey; ten- sles rose-coloured, with the proper markings ; and the outer row either holly or partially scarlet-cored. Dartmouth, Plymouth. This is exceed- sly like S. rosea. (See the article on that species.) | 8. Niveoides.* Column drab-olive. All the tentacles opaque white, except ive groups sub-symmeirically arranged, each group comprising a few ent les of a pale orange-buff hue. A single specimen in the Jame: of Mr. G. H. King, of Torquay, obtained by him in the vicinity. «. Coccinea. Column deep pellucid crimson? tentacles crimson. This
hes a common state of A. mesembryanthemum in its appearance and : its suckers, however, will in a moment distinguish it on exa-
in iets and the usual row of orange-cored tentacles determines its true racter. (Plate ii. fig. 2.) © Brunnea. Column umber- or even bistre-brown, with-pale suckers : tentacles with the characteristic bars much disguised, and almost lost in a neral cloud of dusky black occupying the lower half of the tentacle: is is divided by a narrow whitish band from the terminal half, which pellucid umber. The tentacles are unusually long. Those of the outer Bs ayers mot al scarlet, some being white; all, however, have the cored earance. Torquay. Tt may suffice to particularise these varieties, but spe- cimens are frequently found combining the characters of _ several, and running into one another by imperceptible gradations. I obtained a very young individual at Wey- mouth, which I assign to this species, in which the ten- tacles of all the four rows were cored with the richest __ I first became acquainted with this very fine species the summer of 1853, at Weymouth, where I found sveral specimens adhering to the shells of oysters and lens, brought to market by the trawlers. Since that > I have met with it in some abundance in the neigh- ourhood of Tenby, especially on the eroded surface of some dangerous rocks, known as the Woolhouse Rocks, - lying about a mile off shore, and exposed only at low az In the pools and hollows of this reef, open to _, * In these compounds I take the liberty of using the elements “ venusta,”
rosea,” and “ nivea,” not as Latin adjectives, but as words now having the force of proper names,
44 SAGARTIADA.
investigation only under favourable circumstances of wind and weather at the equinoctial spring-tides, this, with other lovely kindred species, as rosea, nivea, &c., expands its beautiful blossom, in charming abundance.
But still more profusely does it occur in certain situations in the vicinity of Torquay. The line of shore between the Baths and Meadfoot is very bold, and a great number of precipitous insular and peninsular rocks fringe the sea- margin. When the tide is very low, and when the sea is: very smooth, a small boat can penetrate into the narrow straits and caverns formed by these fragments: and there, on their landward sides, where the rays of the sun never reach, may be seen myriads of Anemones, chiefly of this species, but mingled with dianthus, rosea, and nivea, and varied by a vast number of Alcyonium digitatum, which beneath the surface of the clear water are seen blossoming with their lovely polypes.
The finest specimens I have seen are those witch Mr. W. A. Lloyd obtains from the Menai Straits. The species seems to be specially abundant in that locality, and specimens two inches in diameter are not at all rare. The varieties ornata and brunnea are the prominent forms.
The habit referred to, under S. bells, of greatly lengthen- ing one of the tentacles, is possessed by this species also. Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth has favoured me with the fol- lowing note. “In two specimens of the Rosy-armed miniata [var. roseoides} I have observed a remarkable elongation of one of the tentacula, apparently of the second row. Under the microscope the surface appeared corru- gated [or transversely annulated], but mostly so when the arm was fully distended, and the corrugations were most decided at the free end, which was enlarged, truncaté, and slightly dimpled at the centre. No use was made of this long arm when the animal was feeding: it hung down as
THE SCARLET-FRINGED ANEMONE. 45
it did not possess any particular function. It had the same colour as the others; but was not, like them, wholly “withdrawn when the animal was closed. In fact, it ‘appeared as if rather in the way, and not easily disposed of by its possessor. After about a week [the phenomenon} disappeared, and I have seen nothing of the lengthened arms since, in either of the specimens that had had hem.” ae Those curious missile filaments which I have named “acontia,* are discharged by this species in great profusion. They are, as usual, white, but appear to possess the power | of discharging a pigment. A large specimen, which I had “inritated by forcibly detaching it (in the usual way) from a stone, diffused a copious mucus. Acontia were also abundantly protruded, and spread to double the diameter of the body on all sides, on the bottom of a saucer in which I had placed it. After a while the whole of this “mucus over the same area was of a delicate but decided ‘ hue, as seen on the white china. The acontia are very densely filled with enide, of two kinds, chambered and | unchambered. The former are ;}oth of an inch-in length, | linear-ovate, of a clear pale yellow hue, highly refractile, with a long parallel-sided- chamber, extending through _ three-fourths of thecnida. It discharges a wire (ecthoreum) about one and a half times its own length, furnished for e distal two-thirds with a screw of two (or three) spiral bands, closely set, and forming an angle with the axis of 80°: the bands are clothed with reverted barbs. The _unchambered enide are y}pth of an inch long, of a similar Pshape, shooting a wire to eight times its own length, which is attenuated to a fine point, and is furnished with a single _ screw-band, unbarbed. When out of water, miniata has the habit of protruding * See the General Introduction, for a full description of these organs.
46 SAGARTIADA.
the wall of the stomach, almost to as great an extent as B. crassicornis. This is specially seen when the specimens hang from the perpendicular face of a rock. Ae According to Mr. Holdsworth, S. miniata increases by spontaneously separated fragments of the base, like <4 dianthus. He says,—I have had two young ones of miniata produced from bits of the base detached from large specimen, which had been fixed for a long time. was anchored too firmly; so it cut its cable, and started for fresh quarters.” According to the same careful observer double individuals are not uncommon—a fact which points to a more decidedly fissiparous habit. | _The following note contains all the original information that I possess of the generative process. Examining a small specimen, about the middle of August, I found that it had given birth to several ova or gemmules. I had just ~ remoyed it from a stone in one of my tanks, to which it had been attached many months. It had protruded the filaments copiously, and these were now partially retracted. and coiled up, forming a white coat almost entirely in- vesting it. Under a one-inch objective, as these were twining and twisting, I saw among them several olive-— yellow bodies, which seemed to have a motion independent of the filamental currents; and I isolated one. It was of a sub-nautiloid form, irregularly convolute, much like a Bursaria, about y¢soths of an inch in long diameter, +s4,5ths in lateral, and about 4 ,5oths in transverse; of a dull clear olive, but granular, richly clothed everywhere with small cilia, by means of which it revolved freely in all directions, Others which I saw were much less than this one. . Dr. T. S. Wright, however, seems to have witnessed the birth of perfectly-formed young. “Four young ones,” he observes,* “produced by as many specimens of Actinia * Proce, Roy. Phys. Soc.
THE SCARLET-FRINGED ANEMONE. 47
ornata [= Sag. miniata] in the last six months, were born
with a double row of tentacles, the inner long, the outer
short, and tinged with orange-red as in the adult.”
_ This beautiful species is easily reconciled to captivity,
and is hardy. I have kept individuals for long periods.
‘ ‘It expands freely. It ought to be placed on a worm-eaten
_ piece of rock, but it does not require so deep a hole as bellis.
The rich hue of the column, in some varieties, makes it
desirable that this should be visible.
_ The following list of localities marks the range of the species as at present known. I am not aware that it has been found out of Great Britain.
Deal, Rev. H. H. Dombrain: Weymouth, P. H. G.: Torquay, P. H. G.: Dartmouth, Z. W. H. H.: Plymouth, Dr. G. Dansey: Ilfracombe, W. A. Lloyd: Tenby, P. 7. G.: Menai Strait, W. A. Z.: Hilbre Island, Z. LZ. W.: Arran,
_T. 8, W.: Cumbrae, D. R.
_ pellis.
MINIATA.
rosea.
ornata.
ichthystoma.
ASTRAACEA. SAGARTIADA.
THE ROSY ANEMONE.
Sagartia rosea. Prats I. Figs. 4, 5, 6.
Specific Character. Tentacles all rose-coloured ; the first row sometimes with a broad dusky bar above a narrow one at the foot.
Actinia rosea. Gossz, Devonshire Coast, p. 90, pl. i. figs. 5, 6 (var. vinosa).’
pulcherrima. JorDAN, Ann. N. H. Ser. 2, vol. xv. p. 86 (var. pulcherrima).
_vinosa. Houtpswortn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856 (var.
vinosa). 2g Sagartia rosea. Gossz, Tenby, p. 365. Frontisp. (var. De- metand). ;
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form.
Base, Adherent to rocks: scarcely exceeding the column.
Column. Minutely corrugated, studded on the upper half with suckers, to which fragments of gravel or shell occasionally adhere, Substance fleshy. Form in expansion elongate, cylindrical.
Disk. A shallow cup, the margins occasionally undulate. Radii strongly marked, and covered with transverse striz.
Tentacles. Moderately numerous, in four or five rows, nearly equal in length (but this varies according to the variety); often arching regularly over the margin, but sometimes very small and forming a fine fringe.
Mouth. Not raised on an obvious cone, often apparently four-lobed. Lip crenate.
Acontia. Emitted copiously.
CoLouR.
Column. Deep brown, inclining more or less to dark red, paling to buff —
at the base. Suckers pale buff or whitish.
Disk. Pale silvery olive, without markings, except an ill-defined dusky margin, produced by the blending of the bands that cross the foot of each tentacle.
Tentacles. Clear rose-red or rose-purple, very brilliant; those of the outer row showing a slight tendency to lilac. Those of the first and
:
st
THE ROSY ANEMONE. 49
second rows are crossed at the foot by two undefined dusky bars, some- oe Saeed of which the upper is the thicker.
_ Mouth. Lip white; or light pink.
Srze.
It occasionally rises to a height of an inch and a half; and the diameter of the tentacular flower is about an inch.
Locality.
_. The south-west corner of Great Britain: in holes and rock-pools at low _ water-mark. - , j . VARIETIES. @ Vinosa, The condition described above, which is that to which the _ specific name rosea was first applied, and which appears to be the most widely-spread variety. (Plate i. fig. 4.) _ . B. Pulcherrima. Column cream-white, merging towards the summit _ into pale olive. Disk cream-white, with dark lines between the radii. _ ‘Tentacles crimson-lake, with several (more or less distinct) darker bars ; _ those of the first row thicker, usually carried erect, or arching inwards. @Plate i. fig. Si which Jn. cppied. from 9 beautiful drawing, with ‘which Professor Jordan has favoured me.) ¥. Erythrops. Column dark brown, inclining to olive, with conspicuous a michee Disk brilliant orange-scarlet. Tentacles rather short, stout, bright rose-lilac, the bands across the foot well defined. A very lovely variety, which I have found near Torquay. - 8. Demetana. Small and low, rarely exceeding half an inch in height or diameter, Column rich red-brown, with inconspicuous suckers. Disk crimson, often with a tinge of orange, usually more or less puckered at the margin. Tentacles crimson, short, crowded, resembling a compact fringe. Plate i. fig. 5.) :
_ For the first and second of these varieties, I have retained = names proposed respectively by Mr. Holdsworth and rf - Professor Jordan, who described them as species under _ these appellations, I am quite sure that both must be referred to this species, The fourth is the form so abun- _ dant on the Pembroke coast; a very marked variety, to _ which I have assigned a name alluding to the Anynrai, _ the ancient inhabitants of that part of Wales. All are beautiful; but perhaps pulcherrima, as its name pants, is th loveliest of all.
E
i a ae
50 SAGARTIADS. -
There is no doubt that S. minzata and S. rosea approxi- — mate in some of their varieties very closely; and I have had many doubts about the propriety of keeping them separate. I have seen, in the vicinity of Tenby, specimens, — in which some of the small tentacles of the outer row had a scarlet or orange core, and yet in no other respect could — I distinguish them from the true rosea. Normal rosee and normal miniate were abundant on the same frock (the Woolhouse-rock) within a few feet; which fact suggests the possibility of hybridization. Besides the scarlet-cored tentacles, miniata may be described, in those varieties which come nearest to rosea, as darker externally; as growing to a far larger size ; as being lower and less pillar- like; and as having a much more lax, flaccid habit of body.
The questio vexata,—W hat constitutes a species? what a variety ? is one which it is much easier to answer theo- retically than practically. Some have proposed certain arbitrary canons, such as that assumed by Mr. Tugwell, that form distinguishes the species, colour only the variety. — But this is quite untenable. In many instances colour is not only specific, but even generic ;—as black, fhite, and red, in well-recognised patterns and in certain fixed regions of the body, in the Woodpeckers; black, yellow and red, again in certain patterns, in Papilio; yellow, red and white in the Pieride. Indeed, our entomological friends would be sorely puzzled to define their species, if colour were denied them as a distinction. In the Butterflies alone, hundreds of indubitable species rest exclusively on colouring. The fact is, anything may be a specific character, provided it be constant. Constancy, permanency, is what we require ; let us only indicate any mark that is invariably found,—no matter whether it be colour, form, pattern, surface, sculpture, or any thing else; or any combination of
THE ROSY ANEMONE. 51
these, and we have a‘good Specific character. I believe, _ with Mr. Wallace, that “the two doctrines of ‘permanent varieties’ and of ‘specially created unvarying species’ are inconsistent with each other.’* In other words, I would a say a species is permanent, a variety transitory. There is
no doubt, however, that the latter may be maintained
within certain limits by breeding in and in; though there _ will always be a tendency to revert to the original and normal character, which marks the permanent species.
Though I believe this distinction to be a good one, it
~ does not therefore follow that we can put it in practice
without any difficulty. We find a specimen;—we know nothing of its antecedents ;—at most we can trace it only through a few generations; and thus we are precluded from applying our test of permanency to it. The only resource is the practical skill and judgment which expe- rience and observation gradually give; and these, as they cannot be communicated to another, nor be reduced to formule, differ indefinitely in individual cases. In the present work I must beg my readers to believe that I use the best light I have, to arrive at right conclusions,
Under all its variations, which are not very numerous, &. rosea is a lovely little species. When left by the
_ receding tide, it protrudes from its tiny cavity in the over- hanging rock, and droops, a pear-shaped button of orange- _ brown, with a cluster of brilliant purple tentacles just _ showing their tips from the half-opened centre, and a drop of water sparkling like a dew-drop, hanging from them.
Then it is beautiful. But a more charming sight is seen when, as at the rock near Lidstep, or on the Woolhouse reef, you gaze down into a narrow basin worn by the waves of ages in the solid limestone, and, having first care-
: éaly lifted the broad fronds of Lamtnaria and Rhodymenia
* Zoologist, p. 5888. E 2
52 _ SAGARTIADA,
palmata that spring from the edges, you see the dark brown walls and bottom of the pool,—which is filled to the brim with quiet crystal water,—all studded over with the expanded disks of rosew, nivece, and venuste. Then indeed the sloping sides and bottom resemble a parterre, of which these are the lovely flowers; while the tufts of green, brown and purple Alge that spring up everywhere around, some like moss, some like fantastically cut leaves, may well serve for the foliage of the “ fairy paradise.” * In hollows of the tide-worn reef,
Left at low water, glistening in the sun,
Pellucid pools, and rocks in miniature,
With their small fry of fishes, crusted shells,
Rich mosses, tree-like sea-weeds, sparkling pebbles,
Enchant the eye, and tempt the eager hand To violate the fairy paradise.”
It is equally attractive in those imitations of such rock- ‘pools, which we make in glass tanks and china pans for our drawing-rooms. But, like the other species of the group to which it belongs, it is a somewhat precarious tenant of the Aquarium. I have kept at different times a large number of specimens; but none of them, so far as I can remember, survived a twelvemonth’s captivity. A dark-coloured mass of rock suits it best, serving as a back- — -ground for its rich crimson blossom. It loves the shadow, too; and should therefore be placed on the side farthest from the light. A rough ee surface is very appropriate for it.
The Rosy Anemone occasionally protrudes the walls of ‘the stomach, like B. crassicornis, which then overlap the disk in large furrowed pellucid lobes. It sometimes -distends the tentacles till they are translucent, and then it “is not uncommon to see the free ends of the acontia, lying within these organs in coils, having penetrated through the open base of the tentacle from the intersepts of the body-
oe
ar meee 3
THE ROSY ANEMONE. 53
_eavity. One may sometimes also discern fragments of the
same filaments, which have become accidentally detached,
4 driven to and fro at the tip of the interior of the tentacle. _ The proper ciliary motion of these twisted atoms combining _ with the motion produced by the lining cilia of the tentacle-
wall, gives them the fitful vacillating action of spontaneous volition ; so that they may readily be mistaken for living worms accidentally imprisoned. The acontia are emitted
from the pores of the body in great profusion upon irri- _ tation. The form and armature of their cnide do not differ
from those in the species last described.
The following are the localities of the Rosy Anemone known to me :—
Guernsey, E. W. H. H.: Teignmouth, RB. C. R. J: Torquay, P. H. G.: near Paignton, Rev. W. F. Short: Dartmouth, 2. W. H. H.: Tenby, Lidstep, St. Gowan’s Head, P. H. G: Bantry Bay, E. P. W.
miniata. ROSEA. venusta. nivea.
ASTRAACEA. . SAGARTIADA.
THE ORNATE ANEMONE.
Sagartia ornata. Prare Il. Figs. 9, 10.
Specific Character. Basal region of the tentacles, and the outer region of the radii blackish: a white bar across the former, and a white cordate spot _ on the latter.
Actinia ornata, HoipswortH, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856, Pl. v. figs. 5, 6, 7, 8.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form,
. Base. Adherent to the roots of Laminaria: slightly exceeding the’ column. .
Column. Minutely corrugated ; studded on the upper half with suckers, more numerous as they approach the summit. Form in expansion elon- gate, cylindrical.
Tentacles. Moderately numerous, in five rows; those of the first row rather stoutly conical, comparatively short; the rest diminishing rapidly as they approach the margin. ea
Mouth. Not raised on an obvious cone. Lip tumid.
Acontia. Emitted freely.
CoLour.
Column. Dark orange-brown, paler at the base. Suckers pale.
Disk, Central moiety pale orange, changing to a rich purplish brown on the outer moiety. The radii of the first and second rows of tentacles separated by narrow yellow bands slightly diverging “as they proceed outwards, and at their extremities partially surrounding the bases of the tentacles, according to the following arrangement. The first tentacle may be said to arise from the space between two pairs of bands, the second being situated within the pair ;* the band bifurcates near its extremity, and incloses the third tentacle; these branches again divide and form a similar inclosure for the tentacles of the fourth row :+ beyond these is a set of
* The apparent distribution of the bands in pairs is merely a necessary result of the fact that the secondary radii are narrower than the primary.
+ Hence the yellow bands are doubtless the united radii of the tertian and quartan series,
“THE ORNATE ANEMONE.
_ ¥ery short tentacles ; these, as far as I have been able to examine them,
_ are not connected with the yellow bands.” On each primary radius is a
large heart-shaped spot of cream-white, well defined, in the midst of the
_ dark-brown; and on each secondary radius a similar spot, but more elon-
) gated, and situate a little more remote from the common centre.
_ Tentacles. Dark brown at the base, becoming paler toward the tip, en- circled by three white rings, of which the basal one is very distinctly defined.
Mouth, Lip pink; frequently conspicuous,
Size.
About three-fourths of an inch in height when extended ; flower half an inch in diameter.
LocaLity,
The entrance of Dartmouth harbour, in the laminarian zone,
‘VARIETIES,
a. Fusca, The condition above described. - TENTACLE B. Rubida. The brown on the tentacles and certain parts U “n)- of the disk replaced by various shades of red.
This attractive little Anemone appears to have been seen only by Mr. Holdsworth, who described it in detail, with accompanying drawings, in a Memoir read before the Zoological Society of London, Dec. 11th, 1855. From those details, as published in the Society’s proceedings, I have compiled the above description, merely throwing them
- into that order of arrangement, which, for convenience of _ reference, I have adopted in this work. I have been aided, _ however, by the original beautiful drawings, which my
_ friend has liberally placed in my hands. From these, the
_ figures in Plate II. have been likewise copied; fig. 9 re- presenting the flower, fig. 10 the button.
“This species,” as its discoverer observes, “is chiefly
remarkable for the beauty of its oral disk, which, for
colouring and elegance of marking, will bear comparison
56 : SAGARTIADA.
with that of any of the larger kinds. . .. Several ex- amples were obtained at extreme low-water mark, from a large mass of detached rocks known as the Mewstone, near the entrance to Dartmouth Harbour. They were met with on two or three occasions, but were always found nestling among the roots of Laminaria digitata,”
The variety rubida was described in the same paper. Six specimens were found among the roots of a Laminaria sent to Mr. Holdsworth from the same locality. He could find no other difference of importance, than the substitu- tion of red for brown above-mentioned. From a private communication withwhich he has recently favoured me, I learn that he failed to discover any more specimens of either variety, though he subsequently searched the same locality.
rosea. ORNATA. ichthystoma.
_ ASTR&ACEA. SAGARTIADE.
THE FISH-MOUTH ANEMONE.
Sagartia ichthystoma. (Sp. nov.) Prate II. Fig. 7.
Specific Character. Tentacles minute, marginal; each having two _ narrow black bars across the foot.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION,
Form.
_ Base. Adherent to rocks or shells: not exceeding the column.
Column. Coarsely corrugated, with no (observed) suckers. Form (in button) low, nipple-like, with a coarsely-puckered involution ; (in flower) cylindrical, in height about equal to its diameter.
- Disk. A shallow saucer; with radii strongly marked; the margin slightly exceeding the diameter of column.
Tentacles. Moderately numerous, arranged in three rows, set very close to the margin of disk ; nearly equal in size, very small, short, and conical.
Mouth. Set onalarge cone. Lip very tumid, coarsely furrowed.
CoLour.
~ Column. Brownish-scarlet, becoming pale towards the top, and tinged
with purple at the very summit.
Disk. Pale fawn or bay, with numerous radiating lines of black, so thick at the outer half of the area as to give the effect of a broad, black, slightly-interrupted ring. A pair of gonidial radii, opposite, white.
« Tentacles. Pellucid white, marked at the foot with two _ elose-set, narrow bars of black, and a broad ill-defined ring of _ dusky near the middle. The radial lines of black wind sinu- ously among the tentacles, on the pale ground of the disk, with a distinct and pretty effect.
Mouth. Lip deep rich scarlet.
Size.
- Button half an inch in height. Flower three-fourths of an inch in diameter. TENTACLE (front).
58 7 «SAG ARTIAD A
LocaLiry.
The south coast of England : deep water; low rocks.
VARIETIES,
a. Stibista. The condition above described. 8. Astimma. Disk dull olive-grey. Lips dull brick-red.
I know this little Anemone only by two specimens. The first (of the variety stibista) I found on an oyster in the fish-market at Weymouth, in the summer of 1853. As the oysters with which the market was supplied were brought in by a trawler, whose fishing grounds were West Bay, and the offing of Weymouth Bay, we may safely set down one of these as the native locality of my little prize.
The second specimen, which -exhibited that measure of diversity in colour, that I have set down as distinctive of the variety astimma, but exactly agreed with the former in all its other characters, and was manifestly, at the first glance, of the same species, was sent me from Torquay, in April, 1856, by the Rey. W. F. Short. I understand it was taken at the insular rock known as the Ore Stone.
Though less showy than the former specimen, whose — black-lined face and pouting scarlet lips made it very attrac-_ tive, this latter was still very pretty; and it proved to be easily reconciled to captivity, for it remained in one of my tanks,—sometimes under rather unfavourable conditions of the water,—from the 10th of April, 1856, to the middle of August, 1857, a period of sixteen months. Nor have I any reason to believe that it would have died then, but for my own carelessness; for having taken it out of the tank to examine it, I incautiously left it, after my observations, exposed in a saucer to the midday beams of a hot August sun, and found it, of course, killed, when I looked at it again, 4
THE FISH-MOUTH ANEMONE. R 59
_ The acontia contained, as usual, both unchambered and chambered enide. The former were linear-oblong, g3gth of an inch in length, discharging an ecthoreum, four times as long as themselves, surrounded with a single spiral band. | The latter were of the same form, but twice as long and “wide, discharging an ecthoreum very little longer than | themselves, in which I could not discern the least trace either of barbs or screw. The acontium was taken, certainly, | om the specimen last mentioned, when it was either dying or dead, decomposition having commenced ; but the invest- ing cilia were in parts still active, and “the cnide dis- pebarged vigorously, just as when alive. _ In both varieties the small, conical, pointed tentacles "projecting very regularly from the margin, impart a pecu- iar and well-recognised character to the species. These | organs so strongly resembled the little sharp teeth crowded _ Tound the jaws of some fishes, that I was induced to borrow _ a nomen triviale from that resemblance. The appellations _ of the varieties allude, as my classical readers will have perceived, to the long-standing custom among the Oriental ladies (nor altogether unknown to the dandies of ancient Rome*) of staining the eyelids with stibium, a preparation of antimony, for the purpose of imparting a soft voluptuous languor to the eyes. Jezebel “put her eyes in painting” (2 Kings ix. 30; marg.). we ornata. a? IcHTHYsTOMA. _B.. crassicornis. | ?
miniata.
* See Pliny, Nat. Hist. xi. 37 ; Juv, Sat. ii, 93.
ASTRGACEA. . SAGARTIA DZ.
THE ORANGE-DISKED ANEMONE.
Sagartia venusta.
Prate I, Fig. 7. Specific Character. Disk orange; tentacles white.
Actinia venusta. Gossx, Ann, N. H. Ser. 2, xiv. 281. Sagartia venusta. Iprp., Linn, Trans. xxi. 274. Tenby, 358; pl. xxiii. é' figs. a, b.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form.
Base. Adherent to rocks ; little exceeding the column.
Column,. Smooth, or very minutely corrugated ; studded on the upper half with suckers, which are not raised on conspicuous warts. Substance fleshy. Form cylindrical, the height rarely exceeding the diameter.
Disk. Flat or slightly concave; the margin somewhat undulate. Outline often ovate. Radii inconspicuous.
Tentacles. About two hundred or upwards, set in about four indistinct rows; the inner ones about as long as the diameter of the disk, the outer- most small and close-set ; slender, acute, somewhat flaccid.
Mouth. A simple orifice without cone, or distinct lip; Soqusiits thrown into lobes. Throat ribbed.
Acontia. Emitted copiously and freely.
CoLour.
Column. Warm brown, varying from deep buff, to full rich brown- orange, often paler towards the lower half, where traces of alternate lon- gitudinal bands of pale ew dark tint are sometimes visible. Suckers whitish.
Disk. Wholly of a most brilliant orange, without markings.
Tentacles. Pure white, without markings, except that the colour is generally pellucid at the foot and at the tip, and more or less opaque in the middle.
Mouth. Paler than the disk. Ribs of throat white.
S1zz.
A full-sized specimen well expanded is about three-fourths of an inch in diameter of disk; but the extended tentacles may increase this to an
I
a THE ORANGE-DISKED ANEMONE. 61
inch and a half, or rather more. The height rarely exceeds three-fourths Pe
_ Various points in the south and west of Great Britain and Ireland. In Scotland it has not been recognised. Hollows in perpendicular and over- _ hanging rocks, exposed at low water: dark tide-pools.
LocaLityY,
VARIETIES.
” The variation seems to be limited to the greater or less depth of tint in This most elegant species was first met with by myself in the neighbourhood of Tenby, where it is so abundant as to be quite characteristic. It has since been found in several other somewhat remote habitats, but nowhere in anything like the profusion in which it occurs in that its first recognised home. I am justified therefore in consider- ing South Wales the metropolis of the species. It occurs all along the south coast of Pembrokeshire, at least from Monkstone Point to St. Gowan’s Head ; but is more than usually numerous in the fine perforate caverns of St. Catherine’s Island, that form such an attraction to Tenby visitors, and in the hollows and erosions of that rich pre- serve of zoophytic game,—the Woolhouse Rocks. - The Orange-disk is essentially a cave-dweller; almost invariably choosing for its residence some crevice or cranny, or one of those little cavities made by boring mollusks, with which the limestone on those coasts is generally honeycombed, Occasionally, indeed, we find it in shallow pools, with a bottom of impalpable mud, the detritus pro- duced by the action of the waves on the surrounding rocks ; but in such cases it will be invariably found that the Actinia is attached to a hollow in the solid floor of the pool,
_ protruding its body through the deposit by elongation, and
expanding its beautiful disk on the surface. Owing to this
62 SAGARTIAD A.
tvoglodyte habit, it is, like many of its congeners, rather difficult to procure, notwithstanding its abundance, as it must be chiselled out,—an operation, which, from the great hardness of the compact limestone, is both tedious and precarious. ; Hundreds might be seen* in the largest of the caverns just alluded to, hanging down from the walls during the recess of the tide; the button elongated to an inch or more. And almost every dark overarched basin hollowed in the sides of the caves, or in similar situations, at Lidstep, at St. Margaret’s Island, and under Tenby Head, each filled to the brim with still crystalline water, had its rugged walls” and floor studded with the full-blown blossoms of this’ and cognate species. : As a specimen of the exceeding richness of these “ gar- dens of the Nereids,”” wherewith our iron-bound coasts are — adorned, I shall take the liberty of citing the description of one, as it appeared to myself in the vicinity of which I am speaking. It was on the face of the bluff castle- crowned promontory known as Tenby Head. i “ After scrambling over many rough ridges, we come to a perpendicular wall of rock some twenty-five feet high, jutting out from the cliff right across our way; its foot washed by the sea, which is evidently of considerable — depth, its summit tapered to a sharp edge, and the whole — side holed, and furrowed, and honeycombed, and covered — with barnacles to the very top. ; * Tuse the past tense; for alas! it is so no more. When I revisited — Tenby in 1856, I found that these caves, and almost every accessible part — of the neighbouring coast, were pretty well denuded of the lovely animal- — flowers, which, in 1854, had blossomed there, as in a parterre. I fear that the hammers and chisels of amateur naturalists have been the desol agents; and my friends tell me, not without a semi-earnest reproachful- ness, that I am myself not guiltless of bringing about the consummation. — If the visitors were gainers to the same amount as the rocks are losers, there would be less cause for regret ; but owing to difficulty and unskilful-
ness combined, probably half a dozen Anemones are destroyed for one that goes into the aquarium,
THE ORANGE-DISKED ANEMONE. 463
On the south side of this wall, almost at its base, on a ugh mass si rock so covered with luxuriant tufts of Dulse (Rhodymenia palmata) as to be richly empurpled with it, fens | found a little basin, somewhat irregular in outline, but rudely oval, about a foot long, eight inches wide, and six inches deep; in other words, about the size of a soup- tureen. It was much obscured by overhanging drapery of Fucus ; but, on lifting this, I was astonished and delighted with the profusion of animal life, whose gay and varied hues gave to the tiny area the appearance of an artist’s | newly-rubbed palette. | _ “Lest I should seem to exaggerate if I reported the - contents of this basin from memory, I took the trouble to ~ count the specimens, noting each sort in my pocket-book on the spot. Their numbers were,—nineteen of the bril- _ liant Orange-disk (Sagartia venusta), and twelve of the | Snowy (S. nivea), all fully blown ; besides two large Shore- Crabs (Carcinus menas), a Shanny (Blennius pholis), a ‘ Cynthia, several Sabelle, a group of Sabellaria alveolata, _ some very fine masses of Botrylloides, and many specimens of the Crown Sponge (Grantia ciliata). “Nor was this extraordinary pool less rich in its botany __ than in its zoology. Chondrus crispus, finely tipped with _ Steel-blue, as usual; the Common Coralline (Corallina f _ officinalis), purpling the sides and bottom; some small _ fronds of Rhodymenia palmata, and one or tab tiny ones of a _ Laminaria saccharina,;—which is particularly pretty while 4 itis young,—were there ; as also two other kinds of superior 2 - elegance, namely, Delesseria ruscifolia, with its oak-like : leaves of fine dark crimson, and the pretty rich-green _ feathers of Bryopsis plumosa. Besides all these, there __ were other plants and animals of less note, which I did not _ enumerate.” *
* Tenby; a Seaside Holiday ; 96, ef se7.
poe
64 SAGARTIADA.
I think it more than probable that the long deep Atlantic fiords of the sister island, will, on examination, — prove at least to equal, if they do not greatly surpass, in the luxuriance of their marine zoology and botany, any-— thing that we can boast in England. As a companion to the above, I gladly give an Irish picture of S. venusta, in situ, sketched by the graphic pen of my friend Dr. E. Per- cival Wright, the able and energetic Director of the Dublin University Museum. :
“ Last August, while entomologizing with Messrs, Haliday and Furlong in Killarney and Glengariff, we made one day’s excursion down Bantry Bay—a famed spot, but, with all its fame, it has never been worked. Well; the — weather was bad,—very bad; a thick mizzling rain soon bespangled us with heavy dew-drops: however, pulled by four good oars, we did get on. The tide being right against us, it was hours ere we reached some remarkable
_caves,—the chief object of our trip.
“Thousands of the dark olive-green Actinia mesembry- anthemum lined these caves. It was not safe to try to land; but in places where the sea, owing to shelter, was quiet, I could see the sea-floor covered with an extra- — ordinary luxuriance of Actinie, Sponges, &c.;—their — colours, and forms, of course, distorted by every ripple of the waves.
‘** We did land for a few minutes on one spot; and, even at Tenby, and under St. Catherine’s Rock, I never saw so much in the time; and this, though I did not wander from a single rock-pool. In it I saw about four and twenty specimens of Ecehinus lividus, all comfortably sitting in arm-chairs nicely cut out of stone, and most of them of a lovely purple tint. Down the centre of the pool ran a narrow fissure quite choked with Bunodes crassicornis, which, as is their. wont, had managed to gather all the
THE ORANGE-DISKED ANEMONE. 65
little broken débris of shells, and to stick them over their " bodies, in the way children stick broken china on heaps of
eS ‘But new to me as was LE. lividus, and splendid as the really fine crassicornes were—they were of that pretty healthy white and pink variety—yet they were surpassed _ by your Sag. venusta, which with S. rosea sprouted out of every fissure. The former is, I think, the most exquisite of our Irish Anemones. In your figure in ‘Tenby,’ the F fentacles are hardly white enough, and no painting can do _ justice to the clear orange. Book it and S. rosea, both | very distinct from any other of our species. I saw other
_ Anemones that I suspect will turn out new species; but
what could twenty minutes and an insect-net effect in ‘catching’ such things as Sagarts? Why, touch them roughly and—they’re gone! If spared, I will visit them | again; and you shall see them, I hope, too: for if I spend a month in Bantry Bay, say next June or July, I can easily send you my Actinia captures ;—that is, if you _ won't visit Ireland. It is as pleasant as Jamaica.”
To turn from these tempting scenes of wild nature ;—our beautiful Orange-disk is easily made happy in captivity: where, indeed, fed daily by fair fingers, and admired by
_ bright eyes, it would argue badly for its temper if it were not. It is soon at home, and becomes one of the most brilliant ornaments of the Aquarium, expanding its lovely disk freely, fringed with its elegant border of snow-white tentacles, and thus making up in beauty what it lacks in size. It will survive an indefinite period, if it receive a moderate _ degree of attention. The observations which I have made _ on the treatment of S. rosea will apply with equal force to _ this species and to the following. ___ Mr. Holdsworth informs me that he has witnessed the — __ production of new individuals from fragments spontaneously | F
66 SAGARTIADA.
detached from the base, in S. venusta, as before described in the case of A. dianthus. Miss Loddiges has favoured me with information of the same phenomenon in this species.
The following are the localities known to me as inhabited by the Orange-disk :—
Guernsey, Dr. J. D. Hilton : (on Laminariz washed up) Miss Guille: Torquay, P. H. G.; Clovelly (on oysters from deep water), Rev. 0. Kingsley: Morte Stone, G. T.: Lundy, G. T7.: Tenby, P. H. G.: St. Gowan’s Head, P. H. G.:; Puffin Island, Z. L. W.: Bantry Bay, E. P. W.: Belfast (abundant), O. Bosanquet.
This species has close relations with S. nivea. Its colouring, however, so far as I have seen, is constant, without any approach to albinism; and its tendency to an ovate outline also distinguishes it, though less satisfactorily. It may possibly be found hereafter that the two constitute but a single species; but in the absence of any intermediate eondition, I think it best to consider them distinct.
miniata. — : VENUSTA. nivea,
SAGARTIADA.
THE SNOWY ANEMONE.
Sagartia nivea. Puate Il. Figs. 1, 8.
a
e Specific Character. Disk and tentacles opaque white, without | markings.
| Actinia nivea. Gosse, Devonsh. Coast, 93; pl. i. fig. 8.
| Sagartia nivea. sup, Trans. Linn. Soe. xxi. 274. Tenby, 368, Frontisp. Annals N, H. Ser. 3, vol. i. p. 415.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Form.
_* Base. Adherent to rocks; little exceeding the column. Column. Smooth, or slightly corrugated: studded on the upper half with suckers, which form somewhat conspicuous warts. Substance fleshy. Form cylindrical; the height often exceeding the diameter. ~Disk. Fiat or slightly concave; the margin scarcely undulate. Outline circular. Radii conspicuously marked.
Tentacles. About two hundred, arranged in four distinct rows; of which the first and second contain each twenty-four ; the third forty-eight; and the fourth, which is marginal, about one hundred: Those of the first row, when extended, are about as long as the diameter of the disk ; the others diminish gradually, the outer row being small, and often papillary.
Mouth. Sometimes raised on a cone, which at other times disappears ; frequently thrown into lobes. Lip slightly tumtd. Throat ribbed.
_ Acontia. Emitted freely and copiously.
CoLour.
Column. A light olive drab, slightly varying in intensity; becoming paler towards the lower half, which is often marked with alternate longi- tudinal bands of white and drab tint. Suckers whitish.
Disk. Opaque white without markings, except that, when fully ex- panded, a grey tinge spreads in a circle, near the bases of the tentacles.
_ Occasionally a very faint tinge of yellow surrounds the mouth.
Tentacles, Pure snow-white, opaque, except when much distended with
water; without any markings either on the body or around the fcot.
Mouth. Lip and throat pure white.
F 2
68 3 SAGARTIAD A
SIzE.
Large specimens attain the thickness of an inch, the height of an inch ' and a quarter, and the diameter of an inch and a half, when fully — expanded.
‘LOCALITY.
The south-west coast of England, Crevices and rock-pools.
VARIETIES.
a. Immaculata, The condition above described. ; B. Obscurata. Disk tinged with faint greyish-olive; the tentacular — region smoke-grey, undefined. This variety sometimes has the column of q that rich orange-brown hue which is characteristic of this group. ;
It was on the north side of the limestone promontory known as Petit Tor, on the south coast of Devon, that 1 first met with the Snowy Anemone, in the spring of 1852. — The rock here is hollowed into large cavernous pools, —
isolated only at very low tides, and dark with the shadow of the slimy sponge-covered precipices that arch over them; where Laminarie grow abundantly, affording many a nidus for profuse forests of parasitic Hydroids of the genera — Sertularia, Plumularia, and Laomedea. The little red siphons of thousands of Saxicave hang down from the ~ holes which they have excavated in the solid limestone, each terminated by a diamond drop of water, awaiting the — moment when the returning tide shall cover their abodes, and restore to them activity and enjoyment. It is their _ season of periodical idleness and repose. Among the ~ roughnesses of the rock, and the conical papillary pores of — the sponges, which, olive, yellow, and scarlet, stud the sur- face,—green Nereidous worms glide along, in and out, by means of the curious packets of slender bristles, alternately _ projected from every segment and withdrawn, that serve _ them instead of feet. Below the water-line, that is to say, _
THE SNOWY ANEMONE. 69
the level of the lowest part of the margin of the pool, which _ of course never varies, such animals and plants as require _ to be perpetually covered with water enjoy circumstances s suited to their wants. In the deepest shadow, fine speci- _ mens of the fleshy Dulse (Jridea edulis), and the lovely _ leaf-like Delesseria sanguinea, display their crimson fronds in copious tufts; plants that cannot bear the absence of _ water, their delicate leaves becoming orange-coloured in "large patches, which soon die and slough away,—if left | wunbathed even for a single tide. The curious white Cows’ paps (Alcyonium digitatum), all studded with their clear glassy polypes, project from the rock; and here I saw several white Actini#, which at once attracted my notice, though beyond my reach, on the opposite side of the pool. At length, however, by searching in another smaller pool, to which I could gain access, I found, beneath the drooping Oarweeds, one of the white Actinie within reach. It was __ three or four inches beneath the surface; so that to procure it, it was needful to bale out the water to that depth, which I effected by the aid of one of my collecting jars, and then to cut out the animal’s cell with the steel chisel. I was, however, sufficiently repaid for the labour by the beauty of this snow-white Anemone. ' After an absence of nearly six years, I visited this inter- esting spot again. It had often been a subject of specula- _ tion with me whether the minute features of a rocky coast change rapidly under the action of weather and sea; and I had looked forward to this visit with interest, as likely to afford me data for determining the question. The shore was as tf I had left it but yesterday. Everything appeared as if it had been untouched : every tide-pool, every projec- tion, I recognised: the broad cleft that I have described (Devonsh. Coast, p. 34); the little basins within it; the slight projections on the face of the cliff by means of which
70 SAGARTIADA,
I scrambled across, just as of old ; the farther chasm (p. 39); and the large dark tide-pool in which I had seen the Prawn; — —all were exactly as when I first made acquaintance with — them six years ago. This last pool is still fringed with — Oarweeds crowded with Laomedea forests, and the farther — walls are still spotted over with daisy-like Snowy Ane- — mones, just where I saw them first, and in all probability — the very same identical individuals.
But in the interim I had become familiar with the fair — nivea, in what I may call its metropolitan home. It is in the numerous caverns and dark rock-pools into which the — limestone formation on the Pembroke coast is hollowed, that this lovely species is seen to advantage; especially in © the dark holes of Monkstone, the Caves of St. Catherine’s and St. Gowan’s, and the overshadowed pools of Tenby | Head and Lidstep, Here, as we peer into the clear water of these obscure wells, we see the Snowy Anemone studding the rugged sides by hundreds, like bright stars on the mid- — night sky, singly and in constellations. Here, too, swarm — its congeners and companions, the equally lovely rosea and — venusta ; and this trio of graces are the very gems of the — Demetian rocks. 4
When covered by water, nivea expands freely, and con- — tinues long unfolded; but, in situations where it is left by the tide, it either withdraws into its hole, or, if this be — placed on the side of a perpendicular or overhanging rock, it hangs out in the form of a lengthened wart, with a drop © of water depending from its drooping head, like a dewdrop, — in the centre of which a speck of white reveals the peeping — tips of the contracted tentacles.
Mr. Holdsworth has observed in this species that curious — form of elongation of the tentacles described under S. — miniata. Here, however, no fewer than ten or twelve of — the tentacles of the first and second rows hung down,
THE SNOWY ANEMONE. 71
straight and motionless, to a distance of two inches from the disk. They were attenuated towards the middle, enlarging again on nearing the tip, which was truncate in some, } rounded or obtusely pointed in others. Corrugation was present in some, but was rather difficult of detection, owing | tothe absence of colour. It is probable that this peculiar _ condition of the tentacles may be accompanied with func- tions distinct from those of the mere elongation, such as s been described under S. bellis. (See ante, p. 35.) _ This species bears a far closer resemblance to a daisy, e ‘both in size and colour, than that which has obtained pos- _ session of the name. Indeed, one can scarcely see a group _ of niveew and venuste under water, especially among the small mossy growth of grass-green Algwe,— Bryopsis, Con- Sere, Calothrix, Enteromorpha, &c.,—without being forcibly reminded of a crop of daisies on a lawn. 4 Mr. Holdsworth finds it “not uncommon at Dartmouth, _ but usually small; inhabiting crevices in steep rocks under _ sea-weeds; at Guernsey, in sheltered nooks, very fine.” The young do not differ from the parent, except in size and in the number of the tentacles. An infant specimen that was born in one of my aquaria, adhered by the base immediately, and presently expanded. It displayed twelve tentacles, set in six pairs ; each pair being nearly parallel, é and separated by a marked interval from the pair on either Pe - side. Nivea rivals miniata in the profusion with which it shoots forth its poison-bearing acontia, on the slightest irri- - tation. They are moderately crowded with cnide, mostly of the chambered kind, discharging an ecthoreum little longer than themselves, densely armed with reverted barbs, _ which impart the brush-like form so characteristic of this genus. ; Most of the recognised habitats of the species have been
Py S S
Se
Ad]
"
72 _ SAGARTIADA.
_ already mentioned incidentally : they may, however, con- 7 veniently be tabulated. 4 Guernsey, LE. W. H. H.: Torquay, P. H. G.: Dart-—
mouth, E. W. H. H.: Clovelly (on oysters trawled), C.K... —
Morte, G. 7.: Ilfracombe, P. H. G.: Lundy, G. 14 a
Tenby, P. H. G.+ St. Gowan’s Head, P. H. G.:
venusta. NIVEA. sphyrodeta.
“ASTRHACEA. SAGARTIADH.
THE SANDALLED ANEMONE. Sagartia sphyrodeta.
Prate I. Figs. 8, 9.
Specific Character. Tentacles few, thick, pure white; the foot of each _ inclosed within a slender ring of purple, which passes off in a line towards
| Actinia candida. Gossz, Devonsh. Coast, 430; pl. viii. figs. 11, 12, i 18 (“The Purple Spotted Anemone”).
| Sagartia candida. Isrp. Linn. Trans. xxi. 274: Man. Mar. Zool. i. 28. ee sphyrodeta, Iprp, Annals N. H. Ser. 3, vol. i. p. 415.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
Form.
_ Base. Adherent to rocks; expanded beyond the column.
Column. Smooth, without conspicuous suckers. Substance pulpy. _ Form cylindrical; the height in general slightly exceeding the diameter. Disk. Fiat or slightly concave; the margin entire. Outline circular. Tentacles. About forty-eight, arranged in four rows; of which the first . and second contain each eight, the third and fourth each sixteen. Those of the first row are by far the largest, the size diminishing regularly to the ___ external row: their form is stout and conical. They are usually spread _ horizontally, and have their tips frequently bent downwards.
Mouth. Raised on a conspicuous cone, which, however, is not per- 4 manent. Lip capable of great protrusion and distension.
>
_ Acontia, Emitted freely and copiously. .
an s CoLoun.
_- Colwmn. Marked longitudinally with many bands and narrow lines of - opaque white, separated by interspaces, always narrow, of pale semi-pellucid _ brown, or drab. The summit is occasionally tinged with reddish-brown.
_ Disk. Opaque white, marked with five radiating lines of pellucid white.” _ The tentacular region is marked with the ring-lines to be presently
_ described. a
____ ‘Tentacles. Ivory white, without the least appearance of spots or bars : __ but at the very foot, where each tentacle springs from the horizontal disk, it is surrounded bya narrow ring of purplish, reddish, or dusky brown,
74 SAGARTIADA.
which is occasionally broken in front, but always passes off behind in a slender wavy line to the margin, where it slightly Lifureates. Frequently the ring dilates into an undefined spot at each side of the tentacle-foot. Sometimes the line passing off to the margin can be scarcely discerned beyond the second TENTACLES OF spuy- 1°W, and sometimes the whole marking seems
RODETA obliterated. ;
(viewed vertically). Mouth. Pure white.
Size.
Half-an-inch in height, and about the same (or re earianee a little more) in expanse.
LOcALiry.
The south and west coasts of England. Low-water mark. Fissures in rocks ; the under surface of stones.
VARIETIES.
a. Candida. The condition above detailed, which I originally described in my “ Devonshire Coast” under this specific name.
&. Xanthopis, Disk assuming various shades of yellow, from a pale chrome or lemon-colour to a deep orange, or even dull vermilion.
This pretty little species was discovered by myself at Ilfracombe. It was during an unusually low spring- tide, in October, 1852. Specimens occurred at that time in two localities, having this in common, that in each case they were adherent to the perpendicular or overhanging surface of the cliff, at the very verge of lowest water. The animals were social: in the one case I found three indi- viduals associated ; in the other many dozens; a numerous colony thronging the approximating sides of a narrow fissure that runs far up into the solid rock at the seaward base of Capstone Promenade. A frequent tendency to a pendent posture was noticed; for even where the general surface of the rock was perpendicular, many of the Ane-
THE SANDALLED ANEMONE. 75
nones were hanging from beneath the little pots and projecting ledges. In describing these specimens, I suggested the possibility that they might be referred to the Actinia alba of Mr. W. P. Cocks.* The absence of the bright yellow dots that ‘were found on the mouth of the latter, and the entire want
: of visible suckers, induced me to consider mine as unde-
|” seri It is true, the repeated occurrence since of | specimens with a disk more or less yellow nullifies the force of the former objection, but the latter remains; and | until I see specimens of A. alba from Mr. Cocks’s locality, | Tdare not assume the identity. From original drawings | with which that gentleman has kindly favoured me, I per- | ceive, moreover, that the tentacles in alba are numerous | and slender, whereas in sphyrodeta they are few, thick, -and conical. Besides this, the marking of the ten- tacles in alba, which are described as “ barred, having opaque white patches anteriorly,’ removes the animal from “any species with which I am acquainted. I am not, however, without hope, that before this work is closed, the kindness of my Cornish friends may bring me into personal acquaintance with this, and other desiderata of that prolific coast. _ The substitution of another appellation for that which Thad at first assigned to this species was called for on two accounts. First, there