122 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



to deal with the matter. From working exclusively at spirit- 

 preserved specimens, this author has been led to reject, as unsatis- 

 factory, Grosse's observations and conclusions, and even to look on 

 the existence of cinclides as " questionable in most cases." — Report 

 on the Actiniaria, pp. 6, 17, and 72. 



In all three forms (Sagartia miniata, S. nivea, and S. venusta) I 

 have witnessed acontia being discharged through these perfora- 

 tions as well as through the mouth. I am inclined to think, how- 

 ever, that the supplying of a means of exit for these weapons is 

 not the only function which the cinclides perform. From the fact 

 that the cinclides may be observed open when the animal is at rest 

 and fully expanded, and when they are not being used as loop-holes 

 for the shooting out of acontia, and also from the apparently hap- 

 hazard way in which, as Grosse himself observed, the acontia, when 

 emitted, issue forth from them, I believe that Louis Agassiz 

 (Comptes rendus, vol. xxv., p. 678) is right in assigning to these 

 perforations a part in the work of providing communication 

 between the interior of the animal and the surrounding water. 

 Writing of the Actinise, in general, though his conclusions would 

 appear to be based on observations made in one species, Rhodactinia 

 dcevisii, L. Agassiz (Comptes rendus, vol. xxv., p. 678) says : "La 

 cavite generale du corps est remplie d'eau, qui y entre par la 

 bouche et l'estomac aussi bien qui par de nombreux pores micro- 

 scopiques, ranges par series verticales, dans les parois : elle en est 

 expulsee par les tentacules, et par ces memes pores." Milne- 

 Edwards (1857, Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires, vol. i., p. 17) 

 attributes to the cinclides the function of providing means of 

 escape both for the water contained in the animal and for the 

 acontia : " Chez plusieurs Coralliaires on y apercoit des pores qui 

 etablissent une communication directe avec l'exterieur et servent 

 a la sortie de l'eau dont le corps de l'animal est rempli. Le plus 

 ordinairement ces pores sont places a 1'extremite libre des ten- 

 tacules, et chez quelques Actinies on voit souvent des petit jets 

 d'eau etre lances par ces ouvertures quand l'animal se contracte. 

 D'autres fois, des orifices analogues sont pratiques sur les cotes de 

 la cavite viscerale, et traversent de part en part les parois du corps, 

 de facon a livrer passage, non seulement a des liquides, mais aussi 

 aux cordons a nematocystes, qui flottent dans cette cavite." 



The occurrence of similar perforations in the physa of Peachia 



