ASTRjEACEA. sagartiadm. 



THE PLUMOSE ANEMONE. 



Actinoloba dianthus. 

 Plate I. Fir/. 1. 



Specific Character. Body smooth, columnar when distended ; five inches 

 and upwards in height : mouth strongly furrowed, rufous : tentacles 

 marked with a ring of white. 



Actinia dianthus. Ellis, Phil. Trans, lvii. 436; tab. xix. fig. 8. 



Johnston, Br. Zooph. Ed. 2. i. 232; pl.xliii. 

 Dalyell, Anim. of Scotland, 235 ; pi. xlviii. 

 figs. 6. 7; xlix. Gosse, Aquarium, Ed. 2. 

 182; pi. v. Tugwell, Manual of Sea Ane- 

 mones, 56 ; pi. i. 

 senilis. Linn. Syst. Nat. 1089. 



judaica. Ibid. Syst. Nat. 1088. 



pentapetala. Penn. Br. Zool. iv. 104. 



plumosa. Muller, Zool. Dan. iii. 12; tab. lxxxviii. ; 



figs. 1, 2. 

 aurantiaca. Jordan, Annals. N. H. Ser. II. vol. xv. 85. (juv.) 



Actinoloba dianthus. Blainville, Actinologie, 322. 



Sagartia dianthus. Gosse, Man. Marine Zool. i. 28. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Form. 



Base. Adherent to shells and stones : expanded considerably beyond 

 the diameter of the column. 



Column. Smooth, lubricated profusely with mucus ; destitute of suckers, 

 warts, wrinkles, furrows, and corrugations. Substance fleshy, approaching 

 to pulpy. Form cylindrical, terminating in a simple thickened parapet, 

 which is separated from the outer tentacles by a fosse. 



DisTc. Widely expanded, thin, greatly overhanging the column, deeply 

 frilled. 



Tentacles. Exceedingly numerous, moderately large and scattered at 

 about the middle of the semi-diameter of the disk, but becoming smaller 

 and closer outward, until they are excessively crowded, and veiy minute 

 at the margin. In extreme youth they are comparatively few, and much 

 longer in proportion. 



Mouth. Not raised on a cone ; lip thick, divided into lobeo by strongly 

 marked furrows. A single groove only at one of the mouth-augles, guarded 

 by a pair of tubercles. 



