ACTINIA. 219 



causes. The aged specimen was rather reddish-brown when taken ; it 

 underwent successive modifications : and at that period, when I conclude 

 it cannot be under thirty years old, it is rather of a dull greenish cast, 

 the tubercles blue, the ring of the base narrow and faint. 



From the facility of observation, and particularly from admitting the 

 means of removal in general, by simply pouring the water off most speci- 

 mens, from their feeding and breeding so readily, this species is peculiarly 

 adapted for the study of the inquisitive naturalist. 



Plate XLV. Actinia mesembryanthemum, or Equina: taken in 1828 — delineated 

 in October 1828. Produced 334 young. Still survives in 1848. 



Plate XLVI, Fig. 1. Actinia cerasum, so denominated provisionally, as it may 



prove a variety of the Actinia mesembryanthemum. 



2. Ciliated corpuscula or gemmules, from the tentacula of 



the specimen, Plate XLV. 



3. Monstrous progeny of the specimen, Plate XLV., de- 



lineated when six years old. It survived ten years. 



4. Specimen of the Actinia cerasum, taken in 1805. 



5. Monstrous specimen, taken at Eyemouth. 



Plate XLVII. Fig. 1. Actinia mesembryanthemum. Speckled skin of a young 



specimen. 



2. Progeny of the specimen represented Plate XLV., pro- 



duced in the seventeenth year of its captivity. 



3. Monstrous Actinia mesembryanthemum, with two mouths, 



survived nearly five years. 



4. Actinia mesembryanthermm, young extracted from a ten- 



taculum ; profile. 



5. Disc of the same. 



6. Disc, shewing the irregularity of the tentacula, enlarged. 



7. The same animal when a year old. 



§ 2. Actinia cerasum — The Cherry Actinia. — Pl. XLVI., XLVII. 

 — I cannot affirm positively that the subject of this paragraph is a dis- 

 tinct species. Indeed, I am induced to conclude that it is a variety, 

 though a very great one, of the former, the Actinia mesembryanthemum. 



