THE FISH-MOUTH ANEMONE. 59 



The acontia contained, as usual, "both unchambered and 

 chambered cntdce. The former were linear-oblong, sooth 

 of an inch in length, discharging an ecthorceum, four times 

 as long as themselves, surrounded with a single spiral band. 

 The latter were of the same form, but twice as long and 

 wide, discharging an ecthorceum very little longer than 

 themselves, in which I could not discern the least trace either 

 of barbs or screw. The dcontium was taken, certainly, 

 from the specimen last mentioned, when it was either dying 

 or dead, decomposition having commenced ; but the invest- 

 ing cilia were in parts still active, and the cniclce dis- 

 charged vigorously, just as when alive. 



In both varieties the small, conical, pointed tentacles 

 projecting very regularly from the margin, impart a pecu- 

 liar and well-recognised character to the species. These 

 organs so strongly resembled the little sharp teeth crowded 

 round the jaws of some fishes, that I was induced to borrow 

 a nomen triviale from that resemblance. The appellations 

 of the varieties allude, as my classical readers will have 

 perceived, to the long-standing custom among the Oriental 

 ladies (nor altogether unknown to the dandies of ancient 

 Rome*) of staining the eyelids with stibium, a preparation 

 of antimony, for the purpose of imparting a soft voluptuous 

 languor to the eyes. Jezebel "put her eyes in painting" 

 (2 Kings ix. 30 ; marg.). 



ornata. 



? ichthystoma. B. crassicornis. 



p 



miniata. 



* See Pliny, Nat. Hist. xi. 37 ; Juv. Sat. ii. 93. 



