ACTINIA. 251 



adhere to it, it is so like everything around, that it is very 

 difficult to detect it, so much so, that very often I have not 

 had the slightest suspicion of an Actinia being at hand, till 

 by some accidental pressure the water squirted up through 

 its warts and tentacles. When the tide returns, however, 

 the anemone unfolds itself in beauty, and a marine flower 

 is immediately seen where there was nothing but sterility 

 before. The tentacula are shortef than the body, and are 

 annulated or variegated with white or red. 



17. ACTINIA CKASSICORNIS. (Plate XIV. fig. 46.) 

 Hab. On old shells and stones from deep water. 

 This is a fine species, and one of the largest of our Actinia. 

 It is larger than the last, less leathery, and more vividly 

 coloured. Mr. Cocks says, that the most distinctive cha- 

 racter is the readiness with which the rim of the peristoma- 

 tious disc can be thrown into undulations, or twisted awry ; 

 to which Dr. Johnston adds, the ease with which the body is 

 filled with water until it becomes bladdery and diaphanous. 

 He states, besides, that it never indues itself with an extra- 

 neous covering, like the preceding. It is about four inches 

 in height, and fully more when expanded betwixt the tips 

 of the opposite tentacula. Its beauty will be very evident 

 when we quote part of the description by Sir J. G. Dalyell 



