THE DAHLIA WARTLET. 211 



Size. 



Diameter of column frequently three inches ; expanse of flower five ; 

 height two. Specimens from deep water are occasionally much larger 

 than this. 



Locality. 



The Atlantic coasts of Europe, universally distributed ; in tide-pools, 

 and crevices and angles of rocks, near low-water mark ; and in deep water. 

 I am not certain whether it extends to the Mediterranean. 



Yaiueties. 



The colours of this species are very sportive, and scarcely two specimens 

 can be found exactly alike ; but all these modifications may be traced to 

 different degrees of predominance of the hues above mentioned. This 

 variety, from its resemblance to a streaked apple, may be named, — 



a. Meloides. 



/8. Purpurea. Column wholly dull crimson ; disk crimson, with the 

 radial bands and sometimes the central region more brilliant than the rest. 

 Tentacles pellucid crimson, with purplish bands. 



y. Insignis. As /8, but the tentacles pellucid white, with broad and con- 

 spicuous bands of opaque white. (PI. iv. fig. 1.) 



8. A urea. Column yellow, from a light straw or brimstone colour to the 

 hue of a ripe apricot. 



e. Yilis. All colour lost in a semi-pellucid dusky grey. (Deep-water 

 specimens generally very large.) 



In my " Devonshire Coast" (p. 36), I stated, with the 

 reasons which led me to it, my firm conviction that what had 

 hitherto been considered as two species, under the names 

 of A. crassicornis and A. coriacea, were one and the same. 

 Seven years' additional experience has only added to the 

 strength of that conviction, and I have not been able to 

 find a single stable character on which their separation 

 could be grounded. It is equally clear which of the two 

 specific names must stand. Kejecting Linnseus's as out of 

 the question, we find that crassicornis was applied to the 

 species by Mliller, twenty-one years before Cuvier called it 

 coriacea. With regard to significance, both appellations 

 are good, perhaps equally good; the former indicating the 



p 2 



