216 F. A. BEDWELL ON A METHOD OF EXAMINING 



There are tentacles appropriate to each pair of septa, but these 

 again could not be represented, as they sit on the disc in a special 

 order, the six primary tentacles being nearest the oral aperture, the 

 six secondaries further back, and so on. The imaginary transverse 

 sections, figures 3 and 4, pi. XI, will assist the reader in under- 

 standing the diagrams. 



The establishment of a definite standard skeleton, so to speak, in the 

 mind, is most valuable, for when we come to deal with other species, 

 these cannot be opened for inspection like A mesembryanthemum, but 

 require to be dealt with in fragments, and by picking up by inspection 

 and dissection here a fact and there a fact, so that it is most important 

 to know tl where we are " in each of them when we begin to operate. 



Passing now to other Actinice we shall find that Anihea is 

 troublesome to obtain but easy to manage, too delicate and frail 

 to be treated like A. mesembryanthemum, but if it is laid in water 

 a quarter of an inch deep it will flatten down until the free edge 

 of the stomach wall round the oral aperture is disclosed ; and then 

 with a paint brush the edge of the wall or curtain can be lifted up 

 and the interior examined. 



Any attempt to treat A. dianthus, T. crassicornis, or S. parasitica, 

 in the way suggested for A. mesembryanthemum, will end in a failure, 

 the mere touch of the steel produces such muscular contraction as to 

 defy investigation and this goes on through the whole process of 

 decay. The line between life and death in fact in an Actinia is a very 

 difficult one to establish, and I doubt if the muscular contraction ever 

 absolutely disappears in the presence of sea water unless the parts 

 are entirely disintegrated. 



The only method in which T. crassicornis can be dealt with so far 

 as I know is to lay it out flat like Anihea in a very little water in a 

 saucer. After a day or two the free edge of the stomach wall 

 appears like a veil or curtain as in Anihea. A brush can then 

 sometimes be inserted with success under the free edge of the stomach- 

 wall, and the relation of the parts made out by probing under that 

 member. The menstruum used by Mr. Gosse quite failed with me. 



With respect to S. parasitica, that is a most useful Actinia, for the 

 first thing that it does on reaching the tank is to leave the shell on 

 which it is riding, and as it seldom or ever affixes itself to a stone 

 or to the glass, but remains lying on its side in the aquarium, it 

 can be taken out for examination at any time, and replaced when 

 done with. In the next place its disc is extremely transparent, and 



