64 VERRILL, SYNOPSIS OF 



tacles not very numerous, stout, fusiform or conical, 

 pointed, apparently not contractile and not capable of in- 

 volution. Mouth prominent, strongly lobed. 



Closely allied to Urticina, but differs from both that 

 group and Bunodes in the soft and peculiar structure of 

 the upper part of the column and in its non-contractile 

 tentacles. The former character also separates it from 

 Bolocera. 



PHYSACTIS MULTICOLOR Verrill. 



Actinia multicolor Stimpson, 1. c., p. 376, 1855. 



Plate 1, figures 4, 4c. 



Base expanded, wider than the column or disk. Column 

 subcylindrical, low, about as broad as high, in expan- 

 sion, capable of contracting to less than half its usual 

 height, upper margin nearly smooth, the fold situated 

 about .12 of an inch below the margin, the part above this 

 nearly smooth in full expansion, of a soft texture, and 

 strongly contrasting in color with the rest of the body ; 

 in contraction covered with lines of small, soft, rounded 

 papillae, which are closely crowded. Below the fold the 

 texture is firm, and the surface covered with many large, 

 prominent, rounded verrucas, which are scattered and not 

 distinctly arranged in vertical rows, disappearing towards 

 the base. Mouth raised on a prominent cone, the lips 

 often everted and covered with many snlci, the oppo- 

 site angles with very conspicuous grooves. Tentacles 

 short and stout, somewhat fusiform, being constricted, 

 somewhat, at base, and dimishing from below the middle 

 to the ends, which are bluntly pointed and distinctly per- 

 forated, not contractile, but the margin can be contracted 

 over and conceal them. They ,are arranged in two or 

 more crowded rows, often so crowded as to become alter- 

 nate in each row ; about one hundred in the largest speci- 

 men. Height of column, in expansion, about one inch. 



Color of the column above the fold, pink, with deep 

 crimson, zigzag, vertical lines ; below the fold purplish 

 orange, with ten whitish longitudinal stripes ; the upper 



