106 



SAGARTIAD^. 



Colour. 



Column. Ground tint a light buff, sometimes merging into a warm fawn, 

 or wood-brown, at others into a flesh-hue, or even pale scarlet. This is 

 marked with longitudinal bands of paler hue, sometimes almost white ; the 

 bands being equal to the interspaces. As these bands approach the base 

 they become more defined, and the contrast between the alternate dark 

 and light hues is beautifully distinct, especially as they are separated by 

 slender jagged lines of very dark brown. The whole upper parts are 

 freckled with numerous brown dots ; and the suckers are generally inclosed 

 each in a little olive blotch. 



Disk. Ground tint a dull whitish-grey, covered with a regular speckled 

 pattern, formed of the following elements. At the point where each 

 tentacle springs from the disk, the radius is marked by a long dash of deep 

 brown, or blackish, at each edge ; the intervening space between the dashes 

 is occupied by a transverse band of pellucid greyish-brown ; two other 

 similar bands cross the radius at equal distances, but without the bounding 

 dashes. As the markings of the secondary radii do not coincide in posi- 

 tion with those of the primary, the result is the minutely chequered or 



dotted pattern above spoken of. Go- 

 nidial radii often opaque white. 



Tentacles. Translucent grey, marked 

 on each side with a line of dark brown 

 running through the whole length. 

 Occasionally a very faint ring of pel- 

 lucid white surrounds the tentacle near 

 its middle, and a second just above its 

 foot : the lateral lines are lightened at 

 these places, but their continuity is not 

 interrupted. They end abruptly just 

 above the junction with the disk. 

 Mouth. Greyish white ; with darker 

 (right side). furrows. 



Size. 



Average specimens in the button state are about five-eighths of an inch 

 in height, and the same in width of column ; the base covering an area of 

 nearly an inch in diameter. Such a specimen in ordinary expansion would 

 spread an inch and a half from tip to tip of the tentacles. But specimens 

 an inch and a quarter in height and width in the button are not rarely 

 met with. 



Locality. 



It is widely scattered over the European coasts. Where found it is 

 generally common, adhering to rocks and loose stones, between tide-marks; 



