224 BUNODID.E. 



Last May, Mr. C. W. Peach, of Wick, sent me numerous 

 sketches, some of which were coloured, of an Anemone 

 which he had obtained at Peterhead, in April, 1850, and 

 again in December, 1851 ; on each occasion from the hook 

 of a fisherman's deep-sea line. These were manifestly- 

 identical with Miss Church's specimen. 



It was not, however, until October, 1858, that I became, 

 through the kind zeal of the Rev. W. Gregor, of Macduff, 

 personally acquainted with this fine species. Within three 

 months he has sent me, on different occasions, half-a-dozen 

 individuals, including all the varieties distinguished above, 

 which argues its variability of character. This gentleman 

 has been familiar with it for several years, as a not un- 

 common inhabitant of the deep water of the Moray Frith. 

 It is observable that all the specimens on record have been 

 obtained by means of the deep-sea fishing boats. 



The generic name I have formed from <xto/<i<£o9, wide- 

 mouthed ; and the English appellation alludes to the same 

 peculiarity, which is highly characteristic. The specific 

 name is in honour of the kind correspondent to whom I am 

 indebted for my first knowledge of the animal. 



More aberrant even than Hormathia from the typical 

 Bunodidce, and about equally intermediate between this 

 family and the Sagartiadce, the genus might with equal 

 propriety be placed in either. In its general aspect it 

 rather inclines to the present family, especially by the 

 intervention of Hormathia, with which it has much in 

 common. I have not been able to find any acontia, but 

 fragments of craspeda issue from ruptures in the skin, and 

 have much the appearance of acontia.* 



* On two occasions I have seen protruded what looked like acontia. 

 On one, it was very slender, streaming from the mouth to nearly an inch 

 in length, so that I felt sure it was an acontiwm, till I put it under the 

 microscope, when I found throughout the entire length, the ragged eJge 

 of the mesentery from which it had been torn. It was but a crasjaedum,. 



