THE SNAKE-LOCKED ANEMONE. 109 



abject flatness of the body in contraction, and the elonga- 

 tion at night.* 



The name viduata (" widowed ") probably alluded to the 

 white and black lines, which seem to have been remarkably 

 contrasted in Miiller's specimen. Mr. Price's name — 

 anguicoma (" snake-locked ") — is far more suggestive and 

 significant ; and I regret that the law of priority forbids 

 me to adopt it. 



Mr. Holdsworth has found some curious anomalies in 

 the tentacles of a specimen in his possession. He first 

 observed that all these organs assumed a nodulous appear- 

 ance, being abruptly thickened into knobs at regular inter- 

 vals in their length. The phenomenon disappeared and 

 recurred several times, sometimes lasting two or three days. 

 About a fortnight after my friend had favoured me with a 

 record of this fact, he wrote me again as follows : — " The 

 viduata that had the knobbed arms has taken a new freak, 

 and not being content with a normal number of tentacles, 

 must needs throw out branches from some of them. I 

 inclose a sketch of the most conspicuous." From the 

 drawing it appeared, that while some of these organs were 

 but slightly notched at the tip, others were divided nearly 

 half-way down, the branches diverging in various degrees ; 

 while one bifurcate tentacle had one of its branches cleft. 

 A similar phenomenon has occurred to my own observation 

 in Aiptasia, and in Antliea. 



It is by no means common for either viduata or troglodytes 

 to emit the filaments, which I call acontia, from the loop- 

 holes of the column ; but I have witnessed the fact on 

 several occasions. From the mouth they are protruded 

 much more readily. In both species they are crowded 

 with long oval cnidce about .002 inch in length, and 



* Rem. Anim. of Scotland, p. 228. 



