214 bunodidte. 



My esteemed friend, Professor E. P. Wright, of Dublin, 

 lias favoured me with one of his vivid pictures, in which 

 this species forms a prominent feature. It will be read 

 with interest : — 



" There is a very fine cave here, [Crookhaven, county 

 Cork,] entered at either high or low water by a boat, whose 

 entrance is guarded on both sides by a long low reef of 

 rocks, and of a depth at low water of about ten or twelve 

 feet. The sea-floor is shaped somewhat like a Spanish hulk, 

 i.e. rather flat at the bottom, and then rising up gradually 

 and ' wideningly ' to a distance far above our heads, and 

 then ending in an arch formed of sharp-pointed icicles of 

 the by-me-never-to-be-forgotten Devonian slates. To this 

 cave all the fat and fair anemones of the county seem to be 

 sent, when once they have reached a good bodily condition. 

 The cavern is of ample dimensions, so they don't crush 

 eacli other for room ; and the regular manner in which they 

 dispose of themselves is worthy of note. Actinia mesem- 

 bryanthemum — the green, scarlet, and strawberry varieties 

 — occupied the highest row, some of them partly out of the 

 water; they had eyes, and kept a 'look-out' for the rest. 

 Then came Sag. venusta and Sag. nivea, lovingly inter- 

 mixed, and in a large broad band some four feet deep. 

 Then there came an empty row of benches, necessary to 

 keep the tenants of the galleries from the aldermen in the 

 pit, for it was filled with T. crassicomis. 1 verily believe 

 the biggest of the big were here ; and the commonest 

 variety was the one with the white tentacles and red disk — 

 a splendid show for size of specimens and magnificence of 

 colour. This cave of Anemones never can be surpassed, 

 and seldom will the wild grandeur of the cliffs, a hundred 

 feet and more high, with the Atlantic waves rolling in to 

 fill up the picture, — be equalled." 



The voracity of this fine creature is remarkable. The 



