ACTINIAD,E: ACTINIA. 



231 



It is a littoral species, and the commonest of its genus on the coast of 

 Cornwall, where it is generally found in crevices in pools, the bottom 

 of which is covered with Corallinse and Nullipores, &c. Yet it will 

 sometimes forsake these " wells of pure water " for what is little 

 better than a Stygian bog." March 14, 1846. "This morning," 

 writes Mr. Cocks, " I visited the beach L. W. M., back of Mr. Sulley's 

 Hotel, Green Bank ; it is composed of mud, sand, and decomposed 

 algae, many of the stones, when lifted, presented a face as black as 

 the skin of an African, and sent forth a rich aroma of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen. It is thickly studded with stones varying in size and 

 weight, from two ounces to thirty pounds. There are a few remnants 

 of stunted rocks thinly scattered, from four to eight inches high, 

 these are covered with Fucus vesiculosus and serratus. In turning 

 the stones over, I was astonished to find in this Pandorian locality, 

 herds of the Actinia bellis in prime condition, jackets as red as a 

 Kentish cherry, tubercles on external portion of the disc light 

 neutral tint, and strongly marked. So pugnacious, that, when 

 touched, water issued in full streams from nearly all the ducts or 



