552 P. CHALMERS MITCHELL. 
in the sand with my hand, I was obliged to send my boy to the 
hut to fetch a hatchet and a spade. On his return we chopped 
away a considerable portion of the root, and at last succeeded 
in digging out the anemone. When living at rest the whole of 
the column of these anemones is buried in the sand, so that the 
oral disc and tentacles are alone visible. 
“ The oral disc is usually of a light fawn colour, but in the 
darker and more muddy parts of the swamps I have seen some 
specimens of a darker colour. In nearly every specimen I 
noticed a considerable deposit of the sand of the swamp lying 
on the oral disc. 
“‘The tentacles are of the same general colour as the oral 
dise, but the protuberances on them are bright emerald green 
ornamented with a few faint yellow and black markings. 
When the animal contracts on being disturbed the ora] disc is 
not to any considerable extent invaginated, nor are the tenta- 
cles much shortened. The shape of the disc is more usually 
oval than circular, but it varies considerably with the position 
the anemone occupies among the mangrove roots. So far as 
my knowledge goes Thelaceros rhizophore is confined to 
the mangrove swamps. I never met with any specimens either 
on the reefs or in the sandy pools of the lagoon.”’ 
In the specimen, after preservation, the oral disc and tenta- 
cles were very little contracted. The oral disc was almost 
exactly circular, and measured 5 cm. in diameter. The 
tentacles were from 1 cm. to ‘8 cm. in length. The oral disc 
was very prominent and sharply marked from the column. 
The column was evidently very much contracted, and passed 
gradually into the pedal disc, which was very strongly intro- 
verted, but which bore evidence of being adherent to the 
mangrove root. The pedal disc was imperforate. 
The oral aperture was nearly circular, and there was no sign 
of the lips of cesophageal grooves, any trace of which I failed 
to discover in subsequent investigation. The oral aperture 
was filled by the contorted free edges of the mesenteries. The 
strong contraction of the powerful longitudinal muscles had, by 
introverting the pedal disc, forced the mesenteries into this 
