MARINE ZOOLOGY the variety rustica is also a resident there. The species is certainly not known at Hastings, and the fact may indicate a difference of temperature of the water between these localities. ACTINIIDi« 67. Actinia mesemhryanthemum, Ellis and Solander. Characteristic of this species are the vivid blue dart-charged spherules around the margin of the disc, outside the ten- tacles. It occurs at Hastings in several varieties of colours, viz. vars. a, /3, f, i and
of Gosse, the colours being respectively
liver-brown, dark crimson, dark olive-green with broken lines of light green, and liver- coloured with green spots. Very common at low water. Hastings. BuNODIDi^ 68. Bunodes gemmacea, Ellis and Solander. t Brighton. 69. Bunodes c/avata, Thompson. t Brighton. 70. Tealia crassicornis, Muller. A large and handsome anemone with wide and low column, the outer surface of which is provided with suckers. By these means the animal attaches to itself grains of sand and shell, covering itself to such an extent that it has often the appearance of a piece of stucco. The tentacles are short and thick, and generally barred with pink and white. The tentacles are occasionally found budding, the buds being produced from all sides. Common at low tide and from deeper water. Hastings. iLYANTHIDi^ 71. Ilyanthus mitchellii^ Gosse. A rare species, and as such deserving fuller notice. A dozen specimens were obtained on one occasion from a trawler. Length of a specimen, i inches. The colouring of the column varied as follows : In one instance it was wholly of an orange or light tomato-colour ; in others, and more generally, there was below the ten- tacles a flesh-coloured band, then a narrow or broad zone of tomato-colour extending to a quarter or half the length of the column, followed by a broad band of flesh- colour and another of tomato-colour of about equal depth, extending to the base. In one specimen the whole of the column was of a pale flesh tint, with the exception of two zones of a very pale tomato-shade. The disc and tentacles were coloured as follows : Lip, opaque white, with an outer ring of brownish purple, then a wider zone of cream-colour and the space extending to the tentacles of brown-purple. The ten- tacles were in two rows ; the core of ten- tacle was of a light golden or straw colour, with bars upon the inner face of purple- brown, or in some of the outer tentacles of dark-grey ; the outer face of the tentacles appeared grey or curry-coloured. Around the base and upon each side of the tentacles swerved a cream-coloured line, not how- ever uniting upon the outer side. Goni- dial radii cream-coloured ; stomach a light tomato, with a line of deep orange-colour running down each ridge of the folds. The specimens were taken at the beginning of the year, and the white or salmon-coloured ova were clustered like grapes upon the mesenteries. Locality, 25 miles off Beachy Head. ZoANTHID^ 72. ZoanthuSy sp. Upon scallop shells. Not uncommon. Hastings. ALCrONARU Alcyonid^ 73. Akyontum digitatum. The only common coral upon the Sussex coast. It forms lobed, rounded masses upon rocks at low water and upon shells and rock from deeper water. The skeleton is spicular, and the polyps are white, with eight tentacles, fringed laterally with papillae. The colour of the colonies is milk-white or orange. Common. Hastings. CTENOPHORA 74. Pleurobranchia pileus. Animal almost spherical, barely ^ inch in diameter, with eight longitudinal rows of swimming paddles, beneath each of which runs a circulatory canal terminating blindly at either extremity. The flash of the irridescent paddles in the sun as the little balloon-like body ascends in the water is a sight well worth seeing. Very common during most years, in the summer, at Hastings. 75. (?) Pleurobranchia rhodopis, Chun. A large species of about the size and shape of a walnut, and of similar structure to the foregoing species. It was taken in the trawl in profusion a few years ago. The specimens were examined at the time, but for want of reference were left undeter- 83
