Dixon—WNotes on Depastrum Cyathiforme. 181 
sub-umbrella, internally by one of the sides of the quadri- 
lateral columnar mouth-tube, and laterally on each side by one 
of the buttresses. The mouth is very variable: it is at one 
moment a plain four-sided funnel; at another it is closed and 
folds its thick lips so that the oral aperture becomes a mere slit, 
or perhaps four slits, arranged like a St. Andrew’s Cross. In 
large specimens the limbs of this cross may be still further 
modified by zig-zag foldings. The tentacles are knobbed and 
numerous : in normal specimens we have never found less than 
thirty-six, and never more than ninety-six. In small specimens 
they are set in a single row; in large specimens they are set 
in two or more rows, and are divided into eight groups. We 
believe the following is the arrangement that obtains in adult 
forms :—eight small tentacles are more remote from the mouth 
than the rest; four of these correspond accurately with the 
buttresses and mouth-angles, and divide the tentacular margin 
into quarters, the other four mark the centre of these quarters. 
Hach of these eight principal tentacles has a small tentacle on 
either side and a little in front of it. Sometimes these small 
tentacles are not knobbed, but rather pointed ; in large specimens, 
however, they are knobbed like the rest. Between each pair of 
these groups, consisting of the principal and adjacent and small 
tentacles, are nine large knobbed tentacles, in each alternate 
eighth of the margin four of these being in front and five behind, 
five being in front and four behind in the remaining eighths. 
There is a slight rim or parapet outside the tentacles; the tenta- 
eles do not appear to be retractile, but when the animal closes, 
they are turned inwards and downwards, and covered by the rim 
being drawn closely over them. 
Colouwr.—Dirty chocolate-brown throughout, the stalk being © 
paler than the rest, the darkest portion being the masses of 
generative organs which appear through the transparent body- 
wall. The tentacles have a core of dark colouring both in the 
tube and in the knobs. The stalk also has a dark core, while the 
expanded foot is transparent. 
Some individuals obtained at Dalkey exhibited a bright 
brick-red colour shining through their tissues. These individuals 
were growing among colonies of Amerecium proliferum the 
colour of which they resembled. 
