220 Z. HELIANTHOIDA. Anthea. 



fervesce with acids. It is insoluble in boiling water and in alcohol, 

 but dissolves slowly in acids, and in solutions of the alkalies. Its 

 general appearance may be compared to that of the cases of Tubularia 

 indivisa, except in point of colour." 



" The case thus formed by the old shell and the horny membrane, 

 and covered by the Actinia, I have always found inhabited by a va- 

 riety of the hermit-crab." " Its natural history is perhaps doubt- 

 ful. Is the horny case secreted by the Actinia? Or is it the dead 

 axis of some zoophyte, like that which covers old Buccina (Alcyoni- 

 um echinatum, Fl.), and which I have found forming an extension 

 of the body-whorl of the Turbo littoreus, also inhabited by the Pa- 

 gurus ? Or, is it likely that the old shell, with a young crab in it, 

 may have been swallowed by the Actinia ; that the crab may have 

 forced its way through the walls of the stomach, and the integuments 

 of the latter, and that, the Actinia then secreting a peculiar mem- 

 brane to defend its base, the crab may have found itself provided with 

 a habitation suited to its wants ? To this last supposition an objec- 

 tion is found in the fact, that the full grown shell of Trochus Magus 

 forms sometimes the base of the horny case, and this shell is too large 

 to enter the mouth of the Actinia. It seems to be probable that the 

 horny membrane is produced by the Actinia ; and that its formation 

 presents a striking instance of the operation of that beautiful law of 

 Nature which makes the habits of one animal subservient to the 

 wants of another." 



Bohadsch, in his work de Animalibus marinis, has described a spe- 

 cies nearly allied, if not identical with the above, under the name of 

 Medusa palliata, p. 135 t. 11. f. 1 : which is probably identical with 

 the Actinia picta of Risso, L'Europ, Merid. v. 286. See also a no- 

 tice by Professor Jameson in Edin. New. Phil. Journ. July 1830, 

 p. 332. 



20. Anthea,* Johnston. 

 Character. Body cylindraceous, adhering by a broad base : 

 tentacula disposed in circles round the mouthy elongated, taper- 

 ed and incapable of being retracted within the body. 



* From rti/floc — a flower : the name borrowed from Drayton — 

 " Anthea, of the flowers, that liath the general charge, 

 " And Syrinx of the reeds, that grow upon the marge." 



The genus was first proposed, and indifferently characterized by Risso under the 

 name of Anemonia, which being the same as Anemone must be rejected, for it" 

 new generic names formed by the mispelling of old ones were tolerated, confu- 

 sion and barbarism would soon be the result- 



