106 G Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918 



John Murdoch, 1885, p. 162, reported from the region of Point Barrow, 

 Urticina crassicornis and Phellia arctica Ver. (?), now Pseudophellia arctica 

 Verrill. The former was described as orange red splashed in stripes with 

 crimson. It was washed ashore in a gale in 1882, and was said to be plenty 

 on the fishing grounds in 10 to 15 fathoms. A few were dredged off Point 

 Franklin in 13J fathoms. It is mainly a rather shallow water species. The 

 greatest depth in which it was taken off the Atlantic coast, by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission steamer "Albatross" was 141 fathoms. Not common below 50 

 fathoms. It is abundant between tides and in shallow water and often of 

 large size on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in the cracks and crevices of ledges 

 and also fully exposed. It is also common there in 10 to 20 fathoms. The 

 specimens from off Watch Hill, R. I., and Fishers Island sound were taken in 

 shallow water in 1873 and 1874, by me. The type of R. davisii was from 

 Nantucket shoals, south of Cape Cod. 



Some, at least, of the specimens from Puget sound, referred to this species 

 by McMurrich (1901), seem to me to belong to a distinct species, having a 

 firmer texture, more numerous and more prominent verrucse; a bright red 

 body; tentacles usually not annulated; and the disk often without red radial 

 lines. See below under U. columbiana. 



U. crassicornis, the type, is, however, the only species clearly determined, 

 up to this time, as belonging to this genus, unless U. coriacea (Cuv.) is distinct, 

 as claimed by many writers. A closely related species, described as the same, 

 occurs in the Antarctic waters. 



Brandt (Prodromus Descr. Anim. a Mertensio, p. 13, 1835) described in 

 few words, from drawings made by Mertens, his specimens having been lost, 1 

 two species, one or both of which were perhaps colour varieties of this species. 

 Both were from Alaska. 



His A. laurentii had the body red, blotched irregularly with green and 

 brown; tentacles vermillion; Bering straits. This was pretty certainly U. 

 crassicornis, littoral form. 



The colours described are essentially like those of some specimens taken at 

 low tide at Easport, Maine, by me many years ago. (See Revision Polyps 

 E. Coast, 1864, pp. 18, 19). But clear red tentacles seldom -occur on specimens 

 on our coast. No good notes on the living actinians of Alaska have been pub- 

 lished in later years. McMurrich (op. cit., 1901, p. 31) refers to a coloured 

 drawing by Alexander Agassiz, of a specimen referred to this species, which 

 was ^coloured like the littoral form. He stated that the column was grass green, 

 irregularly blotched with deep red; tentacles pinkish, with a dark red band a 

 short distance above the base. No suckers were represented. Locality of the 

 specimen was not given. Mr. Agassiz collected mostly in the Gulf of Georgia, 

 while employed on the U.S. Coast Survey, about 1860. 



Actinia elegantissima Brandt was described as having the body pustulous, 

 greenish red or spotted with red or purple; tentacles of moderate size, dilated, 

 white in the middle, purple at the end. 



McMurrich has referred this to his Cribrina elegantissma, which he had 

 from Puget Sound (op. cit., 1901, p. 18, PL i, fig. 7; PL ii, figs. 8-14), which is 

 a Tealiopsis or former Bunodes. He may be correct, but the latter has not 

 been obtained from Alaska in recent years, so far as I know, while Evactis 

 artemisia, which is also a green verrucose species, is common there. Brandt's 

 species may possibly have been the latter, but may have been the littoral colour 

 variety of U. crassicornis, in which the colour is greenish mottled with red or 

 brown. This form could hardly be called pustulous, though it often has rows 

 of small papilliform suckers. 



Prof. Louis Agassiz told me, many years ago, that Merten's collections were lost in a shipwreck. 



