Tealia tuberculata and T. crassicornis. 67 



allowed to point out some matters that have occurred to us 

 and which prevent our accepting his conclusions. There 

 would appear to be no doubt whatever that Mr. Cunningham 

 has obtained specimens identical with that on which Cocks 

 based the description of his species T. tuberculata; but it 

 seems to us that the accurate and detailed description which 

 he gives of them leaves almost no room for question that 

 these specimens belong to Gosse's species T. crassicornis. 

 The points on which Mr. Cunningham separates T. tubercu- 

 lata from T. crassicornis ai*e : — (1) the occurrence of irregu- 

 larly branched or bifurcated tentacles, which, so far as he is 

 aware, have been observed only in T. tuberculata, though he 

 admits that this is not a constant character of the species ; (2) 

 the slight irregularities in the number and arrangement of 

 the tentacles which were exhibited by ail the specimens of 

 T. tuberculata which he examined, the conjectured normal 

 arrangement being 5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 ; (3) he also states 

 that T. crassicornis may be provisionally distinguished by 

 the number of the tentacles, which are always arranged 5, 5, 

 10, 20, 40, while T. tuberculata possesses the ideal number 

 given above; (4) he points out that in T. tuberculata the 

 tubercles on the column are arranged in vertical series, while 

 Gosse states that those of T. crassicornis are irregularly 

 scattered. 



These distinctions seem to us insufficient to separate the 

 species in question. In the first place the occurrence of 

 branched or bifurcated tentacles is not limited to any one 

 species of Actinia. We have observed this phenomenon 

 occurring occasionally in Actinoloba dianthus, Sagartia 

 miniata, Actinia equina, Anthea cereus, Bunodes gemmacea, 

 Peachia kastata, and more frequently in Cylista undata • but 

 the most conspicuous instance of this peculiarity we have 

 ever met with was in a large specimen of T. crassicornis 

 adhering to an oyster-shell, and obtained from deep water in 

 Dublin Bay in January last. In this specimen several of 

 the tentacles were abnormally developed with warts or 

 branches. Gosse considered the tendency of the tentacles to 

 a monstrous fission the most marked peculiarity of Cocks's 

 specimen ; Mr. Cunningham admits that this tendency is not 

 exhibited by some individuals otherwise similar to Cocks's 

 specimen, and we see that it may be present in T. crassi- 

 cornis, the very species from which it is desired to separate 

 some individuals on the ground that they possess this pecu- 

 liarity. Secondly, as to the irregularity in the tentacles 

 observed by Mr. Cunningham, we should not be inclined to 

 lay much stress on this point in the case of individuals so 



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