114 
SAGARTIAD^. 
Varieties. 
Though subject to considerable diversity in colouring, I am scarcely 
able to select any pattern sufficiently distinct, or sufficiently stable to 
wari’ant its registration as a named variety, I have above defined the 
limits within which, so far as my experience goes, the divergence extends ; 
it seems mainly to consist in the relative proportions and arrangements of 
the dark and light bands of the columns. One mentioned to me by Dr. 
Hilton, of Guernsey, as having been found by him at Herm, seems more 
worthy than any other of being considered as a distinct variety. It “had a 
very light coloured body, and was beautifully marked with lilac spots.” 
Perhaps I may venture to call it Amethystina. I have seen a specimen at 
Torquay, in which the stripes of the column were dark crimson. 
The keen eye and scientific zeal of old Ellis failed to 
discover this species, notwithstanding its large size and 
commanding appearance. Common as it is in some locali- 
ties, it seems, however, to he quite unknown along the 
eastern coasts of great Britain and Ireland, whence Ellis’s 
zoophytic treasures were principally gathered. It was left 
for Mr. R. Q. Couch, of Penzance, to indicate it as a British 
species, though it had long heen known in the Adriatic 
and Mediterranean seas.* 
I have found it exceedingly abundant in Weymouth 
Bay, — extending from the deep water of the offing even 
into the narrow harbour, — but have never heard of its 
being found within tide-marks, except in the instance of 
the var. amethystina, above mentioned, which was found 
attached to a stone at low-water mark. It is, as its name 
imports, normally parasitic in its habits ; though not so 
strictly but that wc frequently dredge specimens adhering 
to stones ; and in captivity it is by no means uncommon 
for an individual to detach itself from its native site and 
adhere to the bottom of the vessel, or even to crawl up the 
perpendicular side. Generally, however, it is found seated 
* With Dr. Johnston I utterly and indignantly reject Linnaeus’s specific 
names in the Actinoida, and with reluctance even cite them. 
