24 



pared with those of actinite generally ; it is of a brown color, 

 and exists as a parasite on the common large brown medusa, 

 Cyanea arctica ; he named it Bicidmm parasiticum. 



Another was found at low-water mark in Nantucket harbor, a 

 foot or more deep in the sand, sometimes attached to small 

 stones ; the shape is elongated and cylindrical, never hemi- 

 spherical ; the tentacles are twenty in number, ending in knobs ; 

 the color milk-white, the ends of the tentacles brown ; he named 

 it Corynactis alhida — the Actinia clavata of Rathke, from the 

 coast of Norway, probably belongs to this genus. It builds a tube 

 of sand, which is readily disintegrated. 



In Charleston, S. C, in 1852, Mr. H. J. Clark obtained sev- 

 eral specimens of a polyp, two feet long when expanded. Which 

 burrows in the mud-flats, and builds an elastic case of mud and 

 mucosities. It has two sets of tentacles, one around the mouth 

 and the other around the margin of the upper disk of the body ; 

 the form is elongated and tapering — in the vertical lamella3 the 

 upper part of each has female organs, and the lower j^art male 

 organs, instead of alternating on different lamellae as is usual ; it 

 belongs to the genus Cerianthus. It differs from other actiniae 

 in the form and arrangement of the tentacles, in the shape of the 

 body, and in having an anus at the lower extremity. Taking 

 form as determined by internal structure as the characteristic of 

 families, it must be considered as belonging to a distinct family ; 

 Corynactis, for similar reasons, belongs to a separate family. 



We should have in this case three groups belonging to the 

 Actinoids, namely, Actinidce, Corynactidce, and Cerianthidce, 

 groups higher than families and lower than orders, and accord- 

 ingly properly called sub-orders. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson presented specimens of the red bug 

 (Reduvius), a beetle which does much injury to the sea- 

 island cotton by causing a red stain ; he had not suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining any coloring matter from them by 

 chemical means. 



He presented also some pyrophyllite, or radiated talc, 

 from Lincoln Co., Georgia ; this is a trisilicate of alum- 

 ina, containing a little water, and exfoliates in a very 

 remarkable manner under the action of heat. It is found 



