312 
TUliBlNOLIAD^. 
Varieties. 
a. Castanea. As above described. 
/3. Esmeralda. The chestnut here replaced by vivid green in like 
intensity, except the border of the mouth, which is pale red. 
7 . Clara. Translucent white. 
On the perpendicular surfaces of clitfs with a northern 
aspect, in narrow wall-sided fissures, and on the under 
sides of fallen fragments of rock forming natural arches, 
and in dark overhung tide-pools, I have found this beau- 
tiful Coral in abundance on the coast of both Nortli and 
(South Devon. It is only at the great recesses of the 
equinoctial spring-tides that it is exposed, though in per- 
manent pools of ample dimensions it occasionally occurs at 
the half- tide level. For the most part gregarious in habit, 
it occurs more in colonies than singly, and twenty, thirty, 
and even more, are occasionally taken by the collectors 
from a single pool. 
It is deservedly a favourite with aquarians ; for if 
removed from the rock with care by a proper use of the 
chisel, scarcely any species is more hardy, more beautiful, 
or more changeable in its aspects. I have been informed of 
a specimen which had been jweserved two and a half years, 
and was then in health. It is free in expanding in 
captivity ; perhaps its most common condition being that 
in which the mouth is somewhat open, and the tentacle- 
heads just peeping from beneath the half-closed margin of 
the column ; but occasionally, and especially at night, the 
animal expands to the full, and rears its lovely form far 
above the level of its stony walls. This condition may, 
however, at any time be induced by a proffer of food ; an 
atom of raw flesh cautiously laid on the half-exposed disk 
is a temptation too great to be resisted. The protrusile 
lip slowly but evenly expands to embrace the food, and 
then closes over it, meeting in a puckered knot in the 
