92 
SAGARTIAD^. 
this in Protean variability. And yet there is, in general, 
no diffienlty in determining the species ; the characteristic 
B is an excellent note of distinction wherever it is present ; 
and in those varieties in which it is obliterated in the 
evanescence of the markings, as in vars. ya, v, o, or 
merged in the abnormal spread of the dark hue of the disk, 
as in vars. tt, p, c, v, the true character of the specimen 
will be betrayed by the form and substance of the body, 
the drab colouring of the column, or the tendency of the 
tentacles to assume the orange hue.* 
It is one of our most generally distributed species, rang- 
ing apparently all round our coasts, from east to west, and 
from north to south. It is also tolerably abundant, at least 
in many of its localities, though less liable than some to 
be seen by casual observers, from its habits of retiremept. 
]\Ir. Price well characterised it, when he proposed for it the 
name of troglodytes (“ cave-dweller,” from rpco^Xy, a cavern, 
and 8vvco, to enter) ; for its favourite habit is to ensconce 
itself in holes and crevices of the solid rock, into which it 
retreats on alarm. In tlie shallow pools that floor the largest 
of the caves at St. Catherine’s, Tenby, the vars. scolopacina 
and aurora are abundant, especially the former, spreading 
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. They often protrude the tentacles only, 
clustered perpendicularly, through the mud, and sometimes 
only the tips of these organs. Their concealment is aided 
by the fragments of sand, gravel, and broken shells, that 
* “ lu addition to these characteristics, I think the stout firm texture of 
the base a fair mark, as it is not so readily injui-ed as in most species. 
Also the comparatively slight adhesion, at least when you can get fairly 
down to it : I think it generally yields to careful fingering.” (F. H. W. 
in litt.) 
