CARNOSI. 389 
Their power of reproduction is scarcely inferior to that of the 
Hydre; parts that have been amputated shoot out again, and the 
animal may be multiplied by division. Their usual mode of gene- 
ration is viviparous. The little Actiniz pass from the ovary into 
the stomach and issue from the mouth. These Zoophytes, when 
hungry, dilate their mouth to a great extent. They devour all sorts 
of animals, especially Crustacea, Shell-fish, and small Fishes which 
they capture with their tentacula and soon digest(1). 
ACTINIA, proper. 
The true Actiniz fix themselves by a broad and flat base. 
The species most common on the coast of France are 
A. senilis, L.(2) Three inches wide, with a coriaceous, une- 
ven, orange-coloured envelope, and two ranges of moderately 
long tentacula, marked with a rosy ring. It is generally found 
on the sand into which it soon sinks if disturbed. 
A. equina, L.(3) The skin soft and finely striated, usually 
of a fine purple colour frequently spotted with green; it is 
smaller than the senilis, with longer and more numerous ten- 
tacula. This species covers all the rocks on the French coast 
of the British channel, ornamenting them as if with the most 
splendid flowers. 
A. plumosa, Cuy.(4) White, and more than four inches wide; 
the edges of its mouth are expanded into lobes all loaded with 
innumerable little tentaculas there is an inner range of larger 
ones. 
Al. effeeta; Rond., lib., XVII, cap. xvili; Bast. xiv, 2(5). A 
(1) See Diquemare, Journ. de Phys., 1776, June, p. 515, and the Memoir on 
the Polypi and Actiniz, by M. Rapp; Weimar, 1829, 4to., 
(2) Itis the Actinia senilis, Gm., Diquemare, Phil. Trans., LX1H, pl. xvi, f. 10, 
and pl. xvii, f. 11; the Actinia crassicornis, Baster, XIII, 1; the Act. digitata, Zool. 
Dan., CXXXIII; and the .2ct. holsatica, Ib., CX X XIX. 
(3) It is the Actinia equina, L., Diquem., Philos. Trans., LXIU, xvi, 1, 2, 3, and 
the Hydra mesembrianthemum, Gm., Gert., Phil., Trans. Lil, 1—5. 
(4) We have no good figure of this species, but I think that of Baster, XIII, 2, 
must represent it. The Hydra dianthus, Gm., Ellis, Phil. Trans., LVII, xix, 8, 
and Encyc., LXXI, 5, is also closely allied to it, and perhaps even the Hydra 
anemone, Phil. Trans., Ib., 4, 5, Encyc., Ib., 5, 6. 
(5) Lalso believe it to be the Act. felina, Diquem., Phil. Trans., LXII, xvi, 13, 
referred by Gmelin to his Actinia truncata. 
It is necessary to remark, that the variation in the form and colours of the Ac- 
tinie renders them extremely difficult to determine, and that we are not to trust to 
