The Actiniae of the Plate Collection. 241 



case of Gosse (1860) who described a British form as Sagartia nivea, 

 in that of Veerill wlio described a form from Callao, Peru, at first 

 (1869) as Sagartia nivea and later (1899) as a Paradis, and in that 

 of DüEEDEN who applied the name (1898) to a West Indian form, 

 assigning' it to the g-enns Sagartia. In the case of Gosse's name 

 there was no presumption that the species was identical with 

 Lesson's ^) hut both Verrill and Düerden supposed that they 

 were dealing with forms identical with Lesson's. Concerning 

 Duerden's form I agree with Verrill in regarding its identity as 

 erroneous, it must be so if Lesson's form was a Paradis. But with 

 regard to Veerill's form the case is different. The coloration 

 given in Verrill's earlier paper tallies with that of the present 

 species and his description of the sphincter in Ins later paper cor- 

 responds with what I have found. In the arrangement of the mesen- 

 teries there is, however, considerable difference, for Verrill describes 

 four cycles with rudiments of a fifth and from twelve to twenty-four 

 perfect pairs. Apparently Verrill's specimens showed considerable 

 Variation and it is consequently difficnlt to compare with them a 

 Single individual, Although I conld not lind that the second cycle 

 reached the stomatodaeum in my specimen, yet the fact that its 

 mesenteries were so nearly of a size with those of the first cycle 

 and so different from those of the third, renders it possible that 

 they may reach the stomatodaeum in its uppermost part, though 

 having been so unfortnnate as to accidentally lose my sections through 

 this region I cannot decide the point; in the highest sections I 

 possess some of the first cycle mesenteries, even, have separated 

 from the stomatodaeum. The number of tentacles present is certainly 

 much greater than the total number of mesenteries and this suggests 

 a further possibility that an additional cycle of small mesenteries 

 may have been present in the uppermost part of the column, and 

 if this be so then the divergence between Verrill's specimens and 

 mine amount to little. I believe that both are identical with Lesson's 

 Adinia nivea. 



The specimens which Lesson described were collected at Paita, 

 Peru, where they were very abundant, but he also describes another 

 form, A. hicolor. as plentiful in the same harbour. Examining his 



1) Since Gosse's Sagartia nivea is a true Sagartian and Lesson's 

 species is a Paractis, there is no necessity for the abolition of Gosse's 

 term for his species as proposed by Verrill (1869) unless the sup- 

 position of Andres that it is identical with S. venusta be correct. 



