136 POPULAE HISTORY OF THE AQUARIUM. 



perpendicularly, each half of the mouth, etc., would act an 

 independent part without much apparent inconvenience. 



Balaxophtllea regia. — (Plate XVII. fig. 4.) 



This pretty little species was discovered and described by 

 Mr. Gosse, who ascertained that it differed in many im- 

 portant particulars from the Car yoiiliy Ilea. It is difficult 

 to say wliich is the most beautiful of the two ; each has 

 beauties of its own. The regia has a much more bright 

 and sparkling appearance than the Smithii. The body is 

 of a briUiant scarlet, and the tentacles are of a yellow tint. 

 They are not terminated by a little globe, but are conical, 

 and more or less bluntly pointed. Numerous warts, by 

 which they are studded, give them at once a granulated 

 appearance and a golden hue. However contracted the 

 animal may be, it is always sufficiently thick over the plates 

 to hide them completely; and the mouth, instead of re- 

 ceding into the central hollow, protrudes in the form of a 

 high conical proboscis. Mr. Gosse observes, that, " if any 

 additional evidence were wanting to show that this species 

 approaches much nearer the Actmia than C. SmifJiii does, it 

 would be found in the stony skeleton. This is very different 

 in appearance from that of the kindred species, and is mani- 



