Mr. G. H. Lewes on the Chylaqueous Fluid of the Actiniae. 417 



teued, terminating without any caudal fin whatever, although 

 dead and dried specimens may wrinkle so as to resemble rays at 

 the tip of the tail. 



It is difficult to account for the difi'erence in Montagu's state- 

 ment of thirty-six plates in the tail, Dr. Kaup stating sixty-eight 

 to seventy, and our specimen numbering quite sixty-six. How- 

 ever, in other respects Montagu's description agrees very cor- 

 rectly : — in the number of plates from the gills to the vent 

 (thirty) ; in the colour and markings, — transverse pale lines and 

 dark margins, one on each joint and one other down the middle 

 of each plate, giving it the appearance of possessing double the 

 number of joints on the body that it really has; the markings 

 also, as in Montagu's species, cease at the tail, or, at all events, 

 become so much fainter as to be almost undistinguishable. The 

 dimensions, proportions of the head, body, and tail, are also the 

 same as Montagu's. 



The introduction of a plant of Halidrys siliquosus was sug- 

 gested by our Curator, from the circumstance of a common Pipe- 

 fish {Syngriathus acus) having been not unfrequently found lurk- 

 ing amongst the tufts of this species of Alga. 



Yarrell's figure conveys so imperfect an idea, that I am in- 

 duced to give a coloured drawing of our specimen taken from 

 life (PL XII.). 



XLIII. — On the Chylaqueous Fluid of the Actiniae. 

 By G. H. Lewes, Esq. 



To the Editors of the Annuls of Natural History. 

 Gentlemen, Richmond, Nov. 6, 1858. 



Absence from England has prevented me from earlier seeing 

 the very interesting communication made by Mr. Gosse in your 

 March Number, p. 172, respecting the so-called "chylaqueous 

 fluid" of the Actinise. 



In my ' Sea-side Studies,' pp. 257 el seq., I recorded the 

 results of numerous observations which showed that in the peri- 

 toneal fluid of the Actiniae albumen was not a constant, neces- 

 sary ingredient, because treating it with nitric acid did not 

 produce that milky aspect which would reveal the presence of 

 albumen ; and, further, that there were no constant morphotic 

 elements, such as could pass for the early form of blood- disks. 

 These observations were confirmed by Mr. Couch, who inge- 

 niously devised the precaution of first emptying the fluid from 

 the Actinias, and then placing them in filtered sea-water. The 

 value of this experiment seems to me considerable, inasmuch as 

 it excludes the chance of albumen, or albuminous corpuscles, in 



