THE SNAKE-LOCKED ANEMONE. 
109 
al)ject flatness of tlie body in contraction, and the elonga- 
tion at night.* 
The name viduata (“ widowed ”) probably alluded to the 
white and black lines, which seem to have been remarkably 
contrasted in Muller’s specimen. Mr. Price’s name — 
anguicoma (“ snake-locked ”) — is far more suggestive and 
significant ; and I regret that the law of priority forbids 
me to adopt it. 
Mr. Holdsworth has found some curious anomalies in 
the tentacles of a specimen in his possession. He first 
observed that all these organs assumed a nodulous appear- 
ance, being abruptly thickened into knobs at regular inter- 
vals in their length. The phenomenon disappeared and 
reciuTed several times, sometimes lasting two or three days. 
About a fortnight after my friend had favoured me with a 
record of this fact, he wrote me again as follows : — “ The 
viduata that had the knobbed arms has taken a new freak, 
and not being content with a normal number of tentacles, 
must needs throw out branches from some of them. I 
inclose a sketch of the most conspicuous.” From the 
drawing it appeared, that while some of these organs were 
but slightly notched at the tip, others were divided nearly 
half-way down, the branches diverging in various degrees ; 
■while one bifurcate tentacle had one of its branches cleft. 
A similar phenomenon has occurred to my own observation 
in Aiptasia, and in Anthea. 
It is by no means common for either viduata or troglodytes 
to emit the filaments, which I call acontia, from the loop- 
holes of the column ; but I have "witnessed the fact on 
several occasions. From the mouth they are protruded 
much more readily. In both species they are crowded 
with long oval cnidee about .002 inch in lengtli, and 
* Rem. Anim. of Scotland, p. 228. 
