ASTRjEACEA. . BVNODlDAi. 



THE DIADEM PIMPLET. 



Bunodes coronata. 



Plate VII. Fig. 4. 



Specific Character. Warts almost confined to upper half of column, in 

 lines and irregularly scattered ; sub-equal, small. 



Bunodes coronata. Gosse, Annals N. H. Ser. 3, ii. 194. 

 GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



FOEM. 



JSase. Adherent to shells, scarcely exceeding column. 



Column. Cylindrical in expansion, much higher than wide ; covered ou 

 the upper two-thirds with moderately numerous small warts, neither per- 

 forate nor excavate ; they are arranged in twelve longitudinal rows, with 

 irregularly scattered ones between ; and are generally wanting towards the 

 base. Skin between the warts smooth, and when distended having a satiny 

 lustre. Whole column invested with a thin drab epidermis, deciduous in 

 ragged shreds, but adhering pretty firmly. A distinct parapet, with a 

 smooth sharp edge, but no appreciable fosse. 



Disk. Circular, fiat, but often protruded so as to be convex, or to form 

 a low cone ; radii distinct. 



Tentacles. In five rows; 6, 6, 12, 24, 48=96. They are sub-marginal, 

 the first row springing at about three-quarter radius ; they are shorter 

 than radius, diminishing outwardly, conical, sub-acute. 



Mouth. Large, protrusile : lip sharp : throat evertile, coarsely furrowed. 



Colour. 



Column. A rich orange, or orange-scarlet, with the warts either paler or 

 darker than the ground-colour. Edge of parapet cream-white, immediately 

 below which the margin is marked alternately with square patches of 

 dark purplish chocolate, and narrower spaces of whitish (twelve marks of 

 each colour in adults, six of each in young) ; these, from the fine contrasts 

 of colour, when the button is not quite closed, have a very striking and 

 characteristic effect, as if the animal were surmounted by an elegant 

 coronet. 



Dish. Red, varying from pellucid scarlet to a reddish chocolate ; each 

 radius bearing a longitudinal central streak of white, which does not reach 



