GONACTINIA PROLIFERA IN FIRTH OF CLYDE. 27 



One of the German names of the plant is also a branch of 

 the same family of words, and it, too, shows a tendency to drift 

 into some similarly sounding word, in order to have the appear- 

 ance of a meaning. The name arrived at in any particular 

 language need have no connection with the plant, but depends 

 upon some word in that language being similar in sound to the 

 original Greek or Latin name. In German the two forms, 

 aberraute and eherraute, easily come in succession from abro- 

 tonum ; the former may mean another or a second rue, and 

 the latter, the boar-rue. So, from mere accidents in the 

 respective languages, different nations make the same original 

 word appear to mean very different things : the Germans connect 

 the " immortal plant " with rue and a boar, the French with a 

 drunkard, and the Scotch with an apple. 



The English name, " Southernwood," comes from quite a 

 different source. According to Dr. Prior, it is " abridged from 

 souderne wermod, southern wormwood," and, being of Anglo- 

 Saxon origin, it can only be associated with dead dried plants 

 brought into the country for medicinal purposes, and has no 

 connection with the living plant, and neither part nor lot with 

 Appleringie and its long line of progenitors. 



Occurrence of Gonactinia prolifera, Sars, in the Firth 



of Clyde. 



By E. S. Russell. 



[Read 26th December, 1905.] 



It was my fortune to dredge this curious little Actinian at 

 Castle Bay, Little Cumbrae, on 15th June, 1905. As Gonactinia 

 is very rare in British waters — this being only the second record 

 — some interest attaches to it on that account. But Gonactinia 

 is also remarkable for its peculiarities of structure and habit, 

 and it may not be out of place to give here a short account of 

 these, in addition to a notice of its distribution. 



