ANTHOZOA OF THE WOODS HOLE REGION. 243 



Habitat: Very general. It seems to find itself at home almost anywhere — on rocks in tide guts, 

 brackish ponds, upon eelgrass, on living shells of Mytilus, among colonies of Molgula and Cynthia, and 

 others too numerous to mention. 



Sagartia abyssicola Verrill. 



Sagartia abyssicola VerrilJ, Am. Jour. Sci.. vol. xxni, 1S82, p. 314; Bull. Mus. Com. Zool., vol. xj. 1883. p. 45. Parker, 

 Am. Nat., vol. xxxrv, 1900. 



Assuming a valid significance in the name of this species, its habitat might seem to carry it easily 

 beyond the scope of this report. It has, however, become so familiar from recent collections, and from 

 depths in no sense abyssal, that it seems very proper to make at least a brief record of its occiurence. 



In view of the excellent descriptions and figiu'es given by Verrill (vide supra), there is no occasion 

 for attempting anything of the sort here. Its more usual habitat is the tubes of the annelid, Hyaltnoecia 

 artifax, but it is occasionally found attached to stones, shells, etc. When brought up in the dredge it 

 is almost invariably contracted into a low conical lump, resembling more or less a small Metridium in 

 a state of close contraction. The tentacles are numerous, longer than the diameter of the body, slender, 

 and tapering. Acontia are numerous and protruded freely. The color is usually a dull brown in pre- 

 served specimens. 



Distribution: Various records show it to be more or less common along much of the coast line, at 

 depths of 50 to 60 fathoms and beyond. 



CYLISTA Gosse, 1860. 



Cylista leucolena Verrill. [PI. xini, fig. 8.] 



Sagartia leucolena Verrill. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. x, 1866, p. 336; Inv. An. Vineyard Sotmd, 1874, pp. 329, 



738; Am. Jour. Sd.. 4th, vol. vi, 1898. p. 495. 

 Cytista leucolena Andres. Fauna u. Flora Golfes Neapel, bd. ix, p. 151. Parker, Am. Nat., vol. xxxrv, 1900. 



This species is common and abundant throughout the region, but its small size and retiring habits 

 tend to render its presence more or less obscure or even unknown. 



The following characteristics may be regarded as diagnostic. Body elongated, cylindrical even in 

 contraction, smooth, or with minute papillae disposed in scattered but more or less vertical rows. Pedal 

 disk well developed, by means of which the creature may adhere tenaciously to almost any object, 

 and also serving as a means of locomotion. Oral disk concave, mouth with about 10 pairs of corruga- 

 tions, or lips, which are of a brownish color. Body translucent, enabling one to observe the mesen- 

 teries which appear as whitish longitudinal lines within the body. Tentacles rather numerous, 40 to 60 

 or more, in some three series, the inner longest, all delicate, attenuate at tips. Color usually delicate 

 pinkish or flesh color to almost white, sometimes with a greenish tinge, especially near oral end and 

 bases of tentacles when contracted;" tentacles whitish, often greenish at basal ends. Size variable 

 according to age, the average being about 30 to 40 mm. in height by about 5 or 6 mm. in diameter. 



In a few points this description does not wholly agree with that of Verrill. For example, the size 

 ranges somewhat smaller, Verrill giving the height as from 50 to 65 mm. Again, his statement that 

 "one of the primary tentacles in the longitudinal plane opposite one end of the mouth is much longer 

 than the others, and often differently colored than the others," I was not able to confirm, except in a 

 rare specimen now and then. Surely it can not be regarded as a diagnostic featiu-e. It was not unusual 

 to find at certain times that one or even several of the tentacles of the inner series might become more 



o Occasionally an interesting variety of this species is foimd, distinguished by a marked color difference, specimens being 

 bright or deeply orange colored. A few specimens were taken at Woods Hole and at first taken to be a new species; but a study 

 of sections failed to show any structural distinction of consequence. 



Later I received from Miss Ann a Luther, of Jersey City, several living specimens which had been taken at Bay Shore, Long 

 Island, and all of the same distinct orange coloration. At this locality the orange color predominates, only an occasional spedmen 

 of the white variety occurring. They are quite hardy and Uve in a balanced aquarium for months if occasionally fed. In this 

 they are quite like the white variety of Woods Hole. So far as I am aware this marked color distinction has not hitherto been 

 pointed out. 



