66 Bulletin, Vanderbilt Marine Museum, Vol. IV 



Family: PARACTIDAE. 



Genus: STOMPHIA Gosse. 

 Stomphla carneola (Stimpson). 



Type: Stimpson 's type was a small specimen collected in 35 fms., 

 on the Hake Ground, off the northeast shore of Grand Manaan, New 

 Brunswick, and deposited in the Smithsonian Institute. 



Distribution : This species dwells in the tide-pools and seaweed 

 clad rock ledges along the coast of eastern Canada and Newfoundland, 

 southward to Cape Cod, Mass. It is also found in northern European 

 waters, Scandinavia and Scotland. It is essentially a shallow-water 

 species, having been found from the tide-line down to 35 fms. 



Material examined : One specimen, collected at Eastport, Maine, 

 by the "Eagle." 



Color: In life this species varies in color a great deal; it is often 

 bluish green mottled with crimson, often bright cherry-red with 

 flesh-colored tentacles. It lives in the tide-pools and shallow water 

 and is very active for an anemone. It will traverse a distance of two 

 or three yards during a half day. 



Life history : Dr. Verrill states that this species discharges young 

 of various sizes and probably eggs also. 



Technical description : In life this species may attain a diameter 

 of two inches when expanded and a height of about the same, but 

 usually it is scarcely half that size. It is frequently confused in the 

 younger stages with Urticina crassicornis, but can best be distin- 

 guished therefrom by making a transverse section of the animal. 

 S. carneola has the sphincter muscle mesogloeal, while in crassicornis 

 it is large, circumscribed, endodermal. S. carneola never has acontia 

 or cinclidae, and has no small suckers, such as are usual in 

 crassicornis. 



For complete description consult Carlgren (1892, in Swedish) or 

 Verrill (1899, in English). 



References: Actinia carneola Stimpson, Smiths. Contrib. Knowl., 

 vol. VI, art. 5, p. 7, 1853, (notes on young specimens one-half 

 inch in diameter). 

 Actinia obtruncata Stimpson, op. cit., p. 7 (littoral form). 

 Bhodactinia davisii Agassiz, Compt. Rend., vol. XXV, p. 677, Nov., 

 1847; Rev. Zool. Soc. Cuvierienne, p. 394, 1847 (deep-sea form). 

 — Verrill, A. E., Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. I, part 1, 

 p. 18, pi. 1, fig. 9, 1864. 



