266 ILYANTHID^E. 



tentacles ; but it has a certain power of crawling also ; for 

 these organs are strongly adhesive throughout, and the 

 animal, attaching itself by these means to foreign bodies, 

 slowly draws itself forward. 



The gular tentacles are usually projected, and clasped 

 together, but sometimes they are horizontally spread. In 

 the latter case, if touched, they are instantly drawn to- 

 gether, and slightly contracted, but never retracted ; they 

 have no adhesive power. The appearance and situation of 

 these organs have suggested to my mind the thought that 

 possibly they may be the lobes of a conchula, in which case 

 the animal would be a swimming Peachia: if, however, 

 they are true gular tentacles, then the alliance is obvious 

 with the following genus Cerianthus. May it not possibly 

 be the immature condition of this latter?* 



There are discrepancies in form and colour, and especially 

 in size, between the specimens seen on our own coast, and 

 those described by Mr. Sars, which make it possible that 

 these may constitute two species. We trust other speci- 

 mens may clear up . this and other questions of interest. 

 Forbes found a species of the same genus abundant in the 

 Grecian Seas, but whether identical with this, we are not 

 informed. 



The internal structure, which, from the transparency of 

 the integuments is clearly seen, presents nothing peculiar. 



? Peachia. 



Acalepha. albida. Anthea. 



? Cerianthus. 



* See M. Haime's observations on the free -swimming young of Cerian- 

 thus, infra, p. 273. 



