684 ACTINOIDA. 



water hot enough to blister the hand ; they can be thawed out 

 alive after having been frozen ; though to dip them in fresh- 

 water is said to kill them immediately. "A strong light incom- 

 modes, noise startles them, and they are affected by odors." 

 Recorded facts show that the duration of life in these inferior 

 forms, is often quite considerable. Gosse, in a note found in 

 " Life in its Lower forms," speaks of one that was living in 

 1856, which attained the age of thirty. five years. 



The Actiniae are "found in every sea some suspended from 

 the walls of sub-marine cliffs ; others covering the more exposed 

 sides of rocks with a flower-like tapestry, and some confining 

 themselves to the smooth sands, on the surface of which they 

 spread out their tentacula, and even slowly withdraw under the 

 sand when danger threatens. Some of them have a stinging 

 quality. Many are used for food in tropical countries, on the 

 coasts of which they are more numerous than in cold climates. 



The order ACTINOIDA is divided by Prof. Dana into the Sub- 

 orders, 1. ACTINARIA ; 2. ALCYONARIA. We refer first to gen- 

 era and species figured on the Chart belonging to the first (non. 

 coralligenous) family, Actinidce. 



The lluanthus (Gr. mud-flower,) Scoticus, has a round mouth 

 surrounded by numerous filiform tentacula. The body tapers 

 to a point which is probably buried in the soft mud in which it 

 lives. 



The SUN-FLOWER ANEMONE, Actinia helianthus, has the mouth 

 encircled by tubulous tentacula, giving it somewhat the appear- 

 ance of a sun-flower. 



The PURPLE SEA ANEMONE, or ANIMAL-FLOWER, A. equina, 

 has a soft skin, finely striated, usually of a beautiful purple, 

 often clouded with green. The tentacula, which number one 

 hundred, vary much in color. 



The WHITE SEA-ANEMONE, A. plumosa, (A. dianthus,) Plate 

 XVIII. fig. 13, is four or more inches broad ; it has the margins 

 of the mouth expanded into lobes, all furnished with innumerable 

 tentacula. There is an inner row of these, still larger. 



The LARGE LEATHERY SEA-ANEMONE, A. senilis, (A. crassi- 

 cornis, thick horned,) is three inches broad, with a leathery, un- 

 equal envelope, of an orange color. The tentacula are in two 

 ranges, usually marked with a rose colored ring. Its abode is 

 commonly in the sand. This species occasionally masters and 

 swallows a victim even much larger than itself. Dr. Johnston, 

 in his "History of British Zoophytes," thus remarks: "I had 

 once brought to me a specimen of Actinia crassicornis, that might 

 have been originally two inches in diameter, and that had some- 



