THE RED-SPECKED PIMPLET. 199 



Column. Pale yellow : each wart crowned with a well-defined crimson 

 speck, the interspaces irregularly freckled with crimson. In some instances, 

 the pale yellow predominates on the upper half of the column, the crimson 

 on the lower. 



Disk. Pellucid-grey, covered or dusted with opaque white specks, 

 varying in size and shape, as if sprinkled with flour. 



Tentacles. Yery pellucid, pale yellow, but 

 some or all frequently tinged with a lovely 

 rose-colour : always sprinkled, on all sides, with 

 minute irregularly shaped specks of opaque 

 white. 



Mouth. Lip and gonidial tubercles some- 

 times crimson or rose-pink; but sometimes 

 whitish or pale yellow. 



Size. 



Ordinary specimens are an inch in diameter and half an inch in 

 height, with an expanse of two inches. Mr. Tugwell figures one two 

 inches in diameter, and three in expanse ; and Mr. Brodrick writes me 

 that one, which has been in his possession nearly three years, measures, 

 after feeding, four inches in expanse. 



Locality. 



The southern and south-western shores of England ; on the under sur- 

 faces of stones, and in crevices between tide-marks, and in deep water. 



Varieties. 



a. Rosea. The most lovely condition above described. 



j8. Dealbata. The roseate hue wanting; the tentacles cream white; in 

 other respects as a. 



y. Funesta. Tentacles dark umber or wood-brown, with little trans- 

 lucency. Disk smoke-black. Both dusted with yellowish-white specks as 

 usual. Column as a ; but tinged with brown. Usually of large size. 



8. Livida. Tentacles and disk tinged in various degrees with bluish-grey 

 or livid green, often in a sort of changeable lustre, like that of putrescent 

 flesh ; with the characteristic specks. Chiefly from deep water. 



Mr. "William Thompson, of "Weymouth, described this 

 species by the name of Actinia clavata, in the Appendix to 

 the Zoologist for 1851. But Mr. W. P. Cocks had already 

 described and figured, under the title of A. Ballii, the same 



