REPORT ON THE ACTINIARIA. 49 



Palythoa (?) sp. (?)* 



Habitat. — Station 299, west of Valparaiso, December 14, 1875 ; 2160 fathoms. 



I found a small Actinia, labelled " Actinia on nodule," which had settled on a piece 

 of pumice near an Ascidian. The animal, being incrusted with sand particles, probably 

 belongs to the Palythoce, but its minuteness and the sandy incrustation forbade a 

 detailed study. The body, not so much as 1 mm. high, was flattened into a disc 5 mm. 

 broad. The number of mesenteries which, as in the Zoanthese, were very regularly 

 arranged, amounted to thirty-two. 



Family 13, Sphenopid.e. 

 Genus Sphenopus, Steenstrup. 



Sphenopus pedunculatus* n. sp. (PI. I. fig. 11). 



Body marked off into an upper swollen trunk, an elongate narrow foot, and a 

 broad sole-like (?) " clasping-disc ; " from the apex run, over the upper part of the 

 trunk, about 10-12 indistinct rough furrows. 



Habitat. — Station 203, off Panay, Philippine Islands, October 31, 1874; 12-20 

 fathoms. Three specimens. 



Dimensions. — Length, 2 - 4-3'2 cm. ; breadth, 2-2'4 cm. 



Colour. — Grey. i 



" This species differs in many respects from the already known Sphenopus marsu- 

 pialis (Steenstr.) and Sphenopus arenaceus (Hertw.). The fully-grown animal permits 

 of an external differentiation into three regions. The most obvious part of such a polyp 

 is formed by the upper bladder-like 'body' (PL I. fig. 11), which conceals within itself 

 the organs of nutrition and reproduction. On it is marked off, by a more or less 

 obvious cross-furrow, a hood-shaped anterior region, sculptured by coarse radial furrows. 

 The body passes into a long narrow ' foot,' from which it is sharply defined by a 

 marked furrow, and finally the foot broadens out at its base into a kind of ' clasping- 

 disc' The three animals of this species which were at my disposal represented 

 stages of different age. In the oldest individual the bladder-like body has been 

 irregularly contracted by preservation in spirit, its exterior is folded, and exhibits 

 besides a lateral compression. The head region, defined by an obvious constriction, is 

 strongly tuberculate, and marked by twelve coarse radial elevations, separated by 

 discontinuous and incomplete furrows. The height of the body amounts to 2 - 5 cm., 

 its greatest width to 2 "4 cm. Sharply marked off from it by a circular furrow is the 

 cylindrical foot, the diameter of which reaches 1*2 cm. Unfortunately this latter has 

 been broken away, so that I can give no accurate information either about the total 

 length, or about the clasping-disc of this animal. The second polyp was of medium 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. PART LXX1II. — 1888.) Dddd 7 



