42 Mr. P. H. Gosse on ^geon Alfordi, 



JEyeon Alfordi, mihi. 

 The only known species. Colours and dimensions as follows : — 



Basal disk brick-red. 



Column pea-green, suffused with a purplish hue, as if from 

 within the skin, more marked towards the extremities than in 

 the medial region ; the whole covered with red dots, so minute 

 as to be distinguished only with the aid of a lens. The warts 

 have each but one speck of crimson, which is central and 

 much larger than the other dots. The red hue on the warts 

 being thus limited to a single speck, the area of the warts 

 appears of a brighter, clearer green than the rest of the body. 



Disk. Inner half purplish grey, abruptly divided from the outer 

 half, which is of a most lustrous satiny green ; radii faint lines 

 of grey. 



Tentacles lustrous satiny green throughout, each bearing a faint 

 line of grey along its outer side. 



Mouth. Lip and throat grey. 



When fully expanded, it is sometimes 4 inches in height by 



1^ inch in diameter; at other times it will be 2 inches in each 



direction. Expanse of flower 6^ inches. 

 Locality. The Scilly Islands. 



This very fine Anemone, which might well put in a claim to 

 be considered pulcherrima, if we had but a Paris to judge, and 

 which is by very far the noblest acquisition to our British marine 

 zoology that I am aware of since the publication of my 'Actino- 

 logia/ we owe to the researches of the llev. D. P. Alford, M.A., 

 Chaplain of the Scilly Islands. On the 29th of March last, 

 this gentleman observed "some very bright green tentacles 

 reaching out from beneath a large stone," which, though he at 

 first supposed them to indicate an Anthea cereus, proved to be- 

 long to an unknown treasure. " Here was an Anemone with 

 high-standing column like an Aiptasia, but with the surface 

 warted, and with tentacles like the richest green velvet, throw- 

 ing into the shade the brightest of Antheas. Moreover the 

 tentacles were of the same colour to their very tips, without the 

 least tinge of pink or purple.^^ " I put into the same bottle,^' 

 continues Mr. Alford, " a Nereis 4 inches long ; and by the time 

 I got home (within a quarter of an hour), the poor worm had 

 been seized in the middle by the lovely green tentacles, and only 

 its head was to be seen protruding from the Anemone's mouth. 

 With his good dinner, my friend became active, far more lively 

 than I have ever found Aiptasia. He soon fastened firmly to 

 the side of the basin ; but his tentacles and column were per- 

 petually on the move. He shows himself off to most advantage 

 when he curves his column upwards so as to present his full 



