REPORT ON THE ACTINIARIA. 35 



circular muscle, which can be recognised with the naked eye, as a thick swellino- on the 

 inner side of the wall. In transverse section it shows a circular or oval figure, fastened 

 on one side to the wall ; it is formed by extremely strong pleating of the endodermal 

 circular muscular layer. 



The large number of perfect septa is also of importance ; on the other hand, I have 

 entirely disregarded the nature of the surface of the body, so that forms both with 

 smooth and with warty wall may find their place in the family. 



Tealia, Gosse. 



Wall covered with numerous, irregularly scattered warts ; body broader than high, 

 tentacles numerous, retractile, all of equal size. 



Tealia hmwdiformis, n. sp. (Pl.VI. fig. 4, PL VIII. figs. 3-5). 



Warts very numerous, small, densely crowded together, with a tendency to arrange- 

 ment in longitudinal rows. Surface of the body encrusted with foreign substances. 



Habitat. — Shore of Tristan da Cunha. October 15, 1873. Three specimens. 



Dimensions. — Breadth, r5-2"0 cm.; height, TO cm. 



Three small forms, collected as shore inhabitants on the coast of Tristan da Cunha, 

 belonged to this Actinia, which, in consequence of the strong contraction of the body 

 and the influence of the alcohol, had lost in great measure the marked characteristics of 

 its external habit of body. They had been partially injured by being detached, and 

 were otherwise so much contracted, that the oral disk and tentacles were covered by the 

 margin of the mural membrane, and the body formed a shapeless mass, from 1-5-2 cm. 

 in diameter. 



The wall is encrusted in some parts with sand granules and covered with numerous 

 papillae, which are simply small elevations of the supporting substance covered with the 

 usual epithelium. As they are of unequal size and irregularly and thickly distributed 

 over the surface, the animals must be referred to the genus Tealia (Gosse). The consti- 

 tution of the circular muscle, which is intermediate between that of Tealia crassicornis 

 and of Leiotealia nymphcea, also favours this view. 



The circular muscle (PL VI. fig. 4) is chiefly endodermal, and projects into the gastric 

 cavity as a thick swelling on the upper margin of the wall. It shows an oval figure in trans- 

 verse section. The margin of the muscle, where it is attached to the waU by a very narrow 

 base, is pierced by a cord of connective substance, which soon divides into two smaller cords 

 only running a little way. The supporting lamellae covered with muscular fibrillge run out 

 from the latter ; they are extremely long in the middle of the swelling and only slio-htly 

 ramified, whilst they are shorter towards the sides, and form numerous lateral branches. 



