THE DISK AND TENTACLES. 139 



contains about 20, the second 24, the thh'd 48, the 

 fourth 96 : tlie other rows are too closely set and too 

 numerous to be distinguished. Probably the whole 

 number of tentacles in a fall-grown specimen may be 

 considered as certainly not less than 500. The 

 innermost rqw springs from the disk about midway 

 between the lips and the margin ; they occasionally 

 stand erect, but more frequently arch outwards in 

 elegant curves. When distended with water these are 

 often an inch in length, and Jth of an inch in thick- 

 ness ; • the others diminish in regular gradation until 

 those of the margin do not exceed J^th in length and 

 a proportionate diameter. All the tentacles are of 

 the same form ; though this varies a little in different 

 specimens, sometimes being blunt and nearly cylindri- 

 cal, at others gTadually tapering and drawn out to a 

 fine point. They are pellucid, faintly tinged with 

 flesh-colour, cream-yellow, or purplish, each one being 

 always marked with from one to five pairs of lines or 

 dashes of a dull-purplish colour, running do^vn the 

 two opposite sides to the tip. Those rows which form 

 the marginal fringe are frequently divided into alter- 

 nate patches of colour, a patch of pale tentacles, then 

 one of pm-plish, six groups of each colour completing 

 the circle. These alternations do not conceal the 

 lateral marks of the tentacles ; and though sometimes 

 beautifully distinct, they are at others scarcely per- 

 ceptible. 



The surface of the disk is pellucid yellowish-white, 

 marked with a circle of six squarish patches of opaque 

 white, corresponding to the lighter portion of the 

 marginal fringe : the lips are also opaque white. 



