140 ZOOPHYTES. 



Subcylindrical, at middle 1J inches in diameter, base broadly dilated 

 and sinuously lobed ; sides naked above, below tuberculiferous and 

 tubercles perforate ; upper margin not tuberculate ; tentacles f of 

 an inch long, filiform (scarcely J of a line thick), in 3 series, 

 crowded, the external a little shorter : when contracted, shape 

 rounded-conical. 



Plate 3, fig. 24, three individuals, one of them contracted and the 

 other expanded, natural size. 



Lagoon of Honden Island, attached to a dead Natica. Exp. Exp. 



The body has a rich blood-red and orange colour, which is darkest 

 at the middle, and is surrounded about one third up from the basal 

 margin by an irregular zone of small white perforate tubercles, from 

 which it occasionally protrudes a slender flesh-coloured vermiform 

 organ to an inch in length [spermatic cords?]. From these tubercles 

 to the margin of the spreading base, the body is veined longitudinally 

 with purplish-brown lines, having dull blue broader ones between. 

 The margin itself is reddish-brown. The tentacles are long and 

 slender, with the outer shortest, which are finely maculated with 

 purplish-brown and white. The margin of the disk is of an umber 

 colour, inside of which there is a zone of white, then one of purplish- 

 brown, then a second of white, then another of paler brown, and a 

 third white zone around the prominent mouth. The edge of the 

 mouth is rich orange ; the aperture is linear. The white zones of the 

 disk are crossed and interrupted by bands radiating from the mouth, 

 and deepening from a light brown at middle, to purple at the margin 

 and at the mouth. When fully expanded, the disk is cyathiform and 

 not flat, as usual ; and the tentacles lie spread out flat, so that it 

 resembles a beautiful aster. It contracts very rapidly, but is slow in 

 expansion. It is very sensitive to light. The body colour presents a 

 streaky appearance, and has a downy look, difficult to represent in a 

 drawing. J. P. COUTHOUY. 



The fact that the exterior tentacles are the shortest, might remove 

 the species from this division; but the difference in length is small. 



