HETEROMORPHOSIS 167 



I always found that new tentacles were formed only upon 

 the oral edge of the piece cut from the animal, while a new 

 foot was formed only at the aboral end. Even though I 

 have not thus far been able to cause a head to develop at the 

 aboral end in Actinia as in Tubularia, still I consider it 

 probable that this also will succeed because of a note I found 

 in Contarini's Trattato delle Aitinie? according to which 

 Diquemare, 2 who worked on regeneration in Actinia, once 

 noticed such a heteromorphosis. A piece cut transversely 

 from an Actinian " riprodurre in vece di un piede degli altri 

 tentacoli e un altra bocca, cosi mangiara da due parti nello 

 stesso tempo. " J 



2. In these experiments the Actinia equina of the East 

 Sea* behaved in some respects differently from Cerianthus. 

 When I cut transverse pieces from Actinia equina, they 

 formed tentacles only, and these without exception at the 

 oral pole; I never saw a new foot formed upon transverse 

 pieces of this animal. The wound only healed at the aboral 

 pole ; no regeneration whatever occurred here, and the body- 

 cavity of such an animal communicated with the outer world 

 at both poles. Most remarkable, however, was the fact that 

 both poles took up food, the aboral mouth being even more 

 voracious than the normal mouth at the oral end. Substances 

 were swallowed by the aboral mouth which the oral mouth 

 as a rule does not take up. If a paper wad soaked in sea 

 water is laid upon the normal mouth of an Actinia equina 

 of the East Sea, it is not swallowed ; while a piece of crab 

 meat, which by our tongue cannot be distinguished from the 

 taste of the paper wad, is immediately taken up by the 

 animal. I tied a paper wad to one end of a stout thread 



1 N. CONTAEINI, Trattato delle Attinie (Venezia, 1844). 



2 I have not been able to obtain Diquemare's work. 



3 Very recently Professor Torrey, of the University of California, has observed 

 heteromorphosis in an Actinian. [1903] 



* The Actinia equina of the East Sea is not identical in its physiological behavior 

 with the Actinia equina of the Bay of Naples. 



