183 
FAMILY V.— BUNODID^. 
1 propose to include in this family all those species, the 
sm'face of whose column is studded with persistent tuber- 
cles, and which are not provided with marginal spherules, 
nor with perforations of the integument. In some instances, 
certainly, — perha 2 )S in all, — these excrescences have the 
faculty of adliering with force to foreign bodies ; and thus 
they agree in function Avith the suckers of many of the 
Sagartiadce ; there is this difference, however, that whereas 
in those, the margins of the suckers do not rise above the 
general le^ml when inactive, in these the tubercles are 
always well developed, and are particularly prominent in 
those species in which the adhesive function, if it exists at 
all, is feeble and rarely exercised. 
The integuments and muscular coats appear to liaA'e 
a mucli greater density than in any of the previous families, 
and the movements of the animals manifest a higher degree 
of vigour, and even of intelligence. The tentacles are 
generally short, thick, and conical. 
The typical and sub-typical genera — Bunodes and Tealia 
— appear to be represented by species which are scattered 
over the seas of the world, and are for the most part 
littoral : the genera Cystactis and Echinactis are confined 
to the southern hemisphere : and the aberrant genera, Bolo~ 
cera, Ilormafhia, and Stomphia, inhabit the deep water of 
the British and Norwegian seas. 
