Part II. — Stichodactylince and Zoanthece. 139 



Phymanthidse, in which the column is provided with longitudinal rows of 

 verrucse in its upper part, and terminated by a cycle of rounded acrorhagi. 

 Sphincter muscle endodermal and very feeble, or absent. An ectodermal muscular 

 and nervous layer are often present on the column-wall and stomod^eum. 



Professor Haddon (1898, p. 495) separates the genus Thelaceros, of Chalmers 

 Mitchell (1890), from Phymanthus, solely on account of the absence of verrucse on 

 its column-wall. Kwietniewski (1898, p. 419), on the other hand, includes his 

 species, P. levis, under the genus, although devoid of these structures, and places 

 Thelaceros as a synonym of Phymanthus. It is clearly a matter of little moment 

 which limitation is followed. As demonstrating the relationship of the two, it is 

 important to note that Mitchell (p. 555) found a thick ectodermal musculature 

 on the stomodseura of his Celebes re^Dresentative. 



Phymanthus crucifer (Lesueur). 



(PI. X., figs. 1 and 2 ; PI. xi., figs. 1 and 2.) 



Actinia crucifer a, . . Lesueur, 1817, p. 174. 



Cereus crucifer (Actinia), Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1866, p. 125; pi. vi., 



fig. 13. 

 Phymanthus cruciferus, . Andres, 1883, j3. 501. 

 Phymanthus crucifer, . M'^Muri'ich, 1889, p. 51, pi. ii., fig. 1; pi. iv., figs. 



6-11. 



With the exception of the oral disc, the polyps are usually buried in coral sand, 

 or gravel ; the pedal disc is firmly adherent to rocks and stones, and adapts itself 

 to the irregularities of their surface. In preserved sjDccimens the base is flat, with 

 coarse radial, and fine circular wrinklings, and is a little larger in diameter than 

 the proximal region of the column. 



The column is erect and smooth in the living condition, but exhibits coarse 

 transverse and vertical wrinklings in contracted preserved specimens. When alive, 

 the polyps are somewhat trumpet-shaped, expanding very slowly from the narrow 

 region just above the limbus, until, in the ujijjer region, they extend to two or 

 three times their lower diameter. Distally the column is folded, and, in situ, this 

 region rests upon the surface of the coral sand. The column is very thin-walled, 

 and the lines of attachment of the mesenteries show through. 



to, Prof. Verrill remarks (p. 496): " The generic name £picystis [Ehr., Corall. rotten Meeres, p. 144, 

 1834] was proposed for the Actinia crucifera Les., A. ultramarina Les., and A. granulij'era Les., the first 

 being put in sect. a. Therefore, it is necessary to take the former as the type of the genus, ■which is 

 evidently entirely distinct from the true Phymanthus. 



