NOTE ON THE SEA ANEMONE, SAGARTIA PAGITRI 



VERRILL. 



By J. Playfaik McMureich, 



Of the University of Michigan. 



In 1869 Verrill described briefly an actinian obtained by Stimpson 

 in the China Sea, where it was found adherent to the chela of the 

 pag'urid D'wgenei< edwardsll (De Haan). It had been termed in manu- 

 script by Stimpson Carcinophilus paguri ^ but Verrill correctly, though 

 evidently with some doubt, referred it to the genus Sagartia." 



Specimens of Diogenes edwardsH collected by Messrs. Jordan and 

 Snyder at W akanoura, Kii, Japan, and now in the National Museum, 

 bore upon the larger chela and also upon ^ae shell which they inhabited 

 an actinian, specimens of which were sent me for identification by the 

 U. S. National Museum. They proved to be the species described by 

 Verrill, and since the original description contains no details regard- 

 ing the anatomical characteristics, it has seemed advisable to make a 

 brief statement concerning these. 



The base is adherent, broader than the column and thin; no definite 

 chitinous membrane, secreted by the base, was observed. The column 

 is low, forming in the contracted specimens a low dome, or in the 

 more expanded individuals a short cylinder. The walls are destitnte 

 of tubercles or verruca? and showed on surface view no indications of 

 cinclides, although Verrill was able to distinguish these structures in 

 the individuals he examined, stating that " openings, which appear to 

 be cinclides, are sparingly scattered over the surface, arranged in 

 imperfect rows." They are undoubtedly present, since I observed 

 one in sections of the column wall; it had an acontium lying in it and 

 seemed to be an ectodermal invagination. 



The margin is smooth and there is no fosse. The tentacles are 

 slightly exposed in all the specimens; they are short and conical and 

 al)out ninety-six in number. 



Verrill describes the coloration of Stimpson's specimens to have 



"A. E. Verrill, Synopsis of the Polyps and Corals of the North Pacific Exploring 

 Expedition, under Commodore C. Ringgold and Capt. John Rodgers, U. S. Navy, 

 from 1853-1856. Collected by Dr. William Stimpson, Naturalist to the Expedition. 

 Proc. Essex Inst., VI, 1869. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. XXVI— No. 1315. 



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