COLOUR VARIATIONS IN ACTINIAE, 233 



striped in the usual Sagartian style ? That Uicnicdla is in a great 

 measure protected from fish attacks finds support in the colouration of 

 specimens of Tritonea plebcia and Ovula patida that dwell thereon. 



A. C. Haddon, in his account of Gcphyra from the Irish coast, figures 

 three-colour variants, all of which occurred upon Tnhdaria. Fig 3, 

 pi. xxxi., shows a " cherry-coloured " variety, which must have been in 

 close accord with the "polyps" of the Tnhidaria; the others are much 

 lighter and more resemble the forms from Eim.icclla. Andres figures 

 a yellow Gorgonid, and the anemone whitish tinged with yellow, but 

 his description gives " Colonna carnicina." 



Sagartia undata {S. troglodi/tes). Although fairly well acquainted 

 with several varieties, I regret that since I became interested in this 

 subject I have not met witli it in any abundance, and hence cannot 

 say much regarding this most variable species. Gosse says (p. 92) : 

 " In the shallow pools that floor the largest caves at St. Catherine's, 

 Tenby, tlie varieties sco/^^xccMia smd aurora spread their pretty blossom 

 faces at the bottom of the clear water. And yet it is not easy to 

 discover them even when scores are thus exposed, for the mottled 

 colouring of the disk and tentacles is so like that of the sand and mud 

 of the pools that even a practised eye may overlook them without 

 the closest searching." Others with orange disk, or tentacles, are 

 evidently warningly coloured. Gosse (p. 91) gives " vaviety hes2)crits. 

 AVholly pure white, gradually acquiring colour in a confinement of 

 some months " (Lundy, W. Brodrick in litt.). 



Tealia coriacea (crassicornis). Mr. F. Slade, of Horniman's Museum, 

 in a letter to my friend Dr. Fleure, noted that specimens of Tealia 

 coriacea {crassicornis) sent from Aberystwyth were better coloured 

 and altogether better animals than those from the chalk of Sussex, 

 and this I have since seen for myself. Gosse (p. 211) says of deep 

 water specimens, " all colour lost in a semi-pellucid dusky grey . . . 

 and specimens usually very large." I have examined large numbers of 

 this deep-water form. H. N. Moseley describes from the Severn 

 estuary, near Aust and New Passages, large numbers of Actinia, and 

 Tccdia (near Weston-super-Mare, very common), the colours of all 

 dull, especially Actinia, which were dirty white or pale olive, and the 

 Tecdia transparent green. Near Aust were found a few Tealia vivid 

 red, nearly as bright as marine specimens. " They were attached to a 

 rocky channel, and when the tide fell a constant stream of water 

 came from a large pool above in which the mud settled and clear water 

 flowed off." 



Anemonia sulcata is a decidedly puzzling species. Showing con- 

 siderable variation, there are two varieties v^^hich are predominant : 



NEW KErilES. — VOL. IX. NO. 2. OCTOBEU, 1911, Q 



