J 84 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



Belfast, and Donegal, which latter is an unexplored region. Still, such 

 is the accuracy of Professor E. Forbes, who found them, that I reserve 

 my final judgment until I examine the locality. I fancy the A. chio- 

 cocca of Cocks will also prove a variety, as the colour of the marginal 

 spherules does not appear to be constant. Indeed, Mr. Gosse informs me 

 of a variety from Cuiubrse in which they are quite absent. In a large 

 rock-pool near the Piper Rocks, Berehaven, county of Cork, I found a 

 variety, the prettiest known to me next to the strawberry ; the body 

 and tentacles were of a rich scarlet, and the marginal spherules were 

 like large globes of transparent crimson glass, they were of a large size, 

 and some forty or fifty in number, all in full blow; being kept in con- 

 finement for a few days, the colour of the spherules lost its brilliancy, 

 and became of a bluish tinge. I have taken in the west a specimen nearly 

 white, with the slightest blue tinge, and forming a chaste and pleasing 

 contrast with the base and tentacles, which still retained their azure-blue 

 colour. "W". Thompson would appear never to have observed any varieties 

 of this species. The dirty estuaries of some of our large rivers, as the 

 Liffey, seem to exterminate Mesembryanthemum from their immediate 

 vicinity. 



Bunodes gemmacea. {Ellis.) 



So far as my experience goes, I would say that this is an essentially 

 southern species, perhaps extending upwards on our south-west coast 

 It is also an inhabitant of the Littoral Zone. I first knew of its occur- 

 rence as Irish from specimens sent me from Cork Harbour by Professor 

 J. Eeay Greene, and have since found it rather sparingly on the south 

 coast, and as far west as Bantry Bay ; some of the finest specimens I 

 have seen adhering to small pieces of slaty Devonian, not much below 

 ordinary high- water mark. 



Tealia crassicornis. 

 This is the Actinia gemmacea of Templeton, and is recorded by 

 Thompson as occurring in deep water off the coasts of Down and Antrim. 

 I know no portion of our coast on which, in suitable places, this species 

 does not abound. It appears quite able to adapt itself either to the clear 

 waters of the west, or to the dirty, muddy waves of such rivers as the 

 Liffey or Lee. Along the North Wall, which, in Dublin, runs along the 

 entrance of the Liffey, it abounds of a large size, and seems to wallow in 

 all the filth of the river ; but I have seen as large, and generally 

 brighter coloured specimens, occurring off Howth. 



