ACTINL\D^ : ACTINIA. 



229 



in Mag. Nat. Plist. ix. 303.— Hydra bellis, Stetv. Elem. ii. 451.— Cribrina bellis, 

 Ekrenb. Corall. 41 ; and in Lam. Anim. s. Vert. 2de edit. iii. 425. Grube 

 Actin. 12. 



Hah. — " Frequently found in the pools about the Mount's Bay," 

 Cornwall. " It is rare to meet with a single one in a place, there 

 being most commonly four or five of them living so near together in 

 the same fissure of the rock, which they constantly inhabit, that their 

 expanded calyces form a row of flower-like bodies, that seem to grow 

 upon the cliffs under water," GcErtner. " Found in a pool on the 

 rocks at the north end of the Island of Rathlin, Aug-ust 1795," Tevi- 

 pleton. Ballyhome Bay, co. Down, W. Tlionipson. 



" From its small basis rises a cylindric stalk, which supports the 

 roundish body of the animal, from whence afterwards the calyx, 

 being a continued membrane of the body, draws its origin. The 

 stalk, or the pedunculus of the polype, is quite smooth, and its 

 colour inclines towards the carnation. The outside of the calyx, 

 and the body of this animal, are marked with a number of small 

 white protuberances, resembling warts, to which fragments of shells, 

 sand-grains, &c. adhere, and hide the beautiful colour of these parts, 

 which, from that of carnation, is insensibly changed towards the 

 border of the calyx first into purple, then violet, and at last into a 

 dark brown. The inside of the calyx is covered with the feelers, 

 that grow in several ranges upon it : they differ considerably in 

 length ; those that are near the edge of the calyx being but small 

 papilla?, in proportion to those that surround the disk, or the central 

 part of the body. They are almost transparent ; and some of them 

 are of a pale ash colour, with brown spots ; others, on the contrary, 

 are of a chesnut colour, marked with white spots. The disk is formed 

 like a star, which, according to the figure that is traced out by the 

 innermost row of the feelers, consists of many angles. The colour of 

 this part of the body is a beautiful mixture of brown, yellow, ash- 

 colour and white, which together form variegated rays, that from the 

 centre, or the mouth of the animal, are spread over the whole surface 

 of the disk. — This polype contracting itself, changes its body into an 

 irregular hemisphere, which is so covered with the several extraneous 

 bodies that stick to it, that it is extremely difficult to know the 

 animal in this state, and to discern it from the rubbish, that com- 

 monly surrounds it," Gtvrtner. 



" This beautiful species is certainly no variety of Actinia gemmacea, 

 as has been supposed by some from the perusal of Ga^rtner's descrip- 

 tion of it. It inhabits the fissures of rocks, in which the whole of 



