126 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



accordingly in his subsequent works so placed it (Actin. Brit., pp. 

 88 and 90). I have found in the submerged peat at Torquay- 

 specimens exactly corresponding to his description of this variety, 

 so that I have no doubt on my own mind that I am speaking of 

 the same form which Gosse so described ; and I am perfectly sure 

 it must be placed as Gosse has placed it. Now just before Gosse 

 published his Actinologia Britannica, Mr. Lewes' interesting work, 

 Seaside Studies, which contains the statement we are now consider- 

 ing, appeared. At p. 142 (or p. 150, in the second edition) we 

 find the following passage: — "Apropos of this peculiarity of 

 colour [a dark-brown smooth anemone (Actinia equina = A. mesem- 

 bryanthemum) giving birth to one faintly striped with green], I 

 may remark on the great variations of colour observable in the 

 colour of anemones, and the impropriety of making colour the 

 distinguishing mark of a species. Thus, to select a striking ex- 

 ample, Mr. Gosse makes two distinct species of the orange-disked 

 and orange-tentacled anemones, naming them Vennsta and Aurora ; 

 but as if to prove the indifference of all such characteristics, I 

 brought with me from Tenby an orange-disked — and only one — 

 which, before it had been home a fortnight, I discovered, with 

 great surprise, was changed into an orange-tentacled, disk and 

 tentacles being of a rich orange hue, the only traces of white 

 remaining just at the tips. If there had been any other species in 

 the vase I might have doubted ; but having only one, in company 

 with a white daisy (Sagartia bellis) and a smooth anemone, there 

 was no avoiding the conclusion." 



Now what Mr. Lewes observed here was an " orange-disked " 

 turn into an " orange-tentacled anemone," that is, the tentacles of 

 a Sagartia venusta lost their characteristic opaque white colour, and 

 assumed the orange colour of the disk. His description of the 

 transformation, as well as the context into which it is introduced, 

 preclude us from believing that the change amounted to anything 

 more than this. But a great deal more than this slight change 

 would have been necessary to turn a Sagartia venusta into a Sa- 

 gartia troglodytes, var. aurora, as anyone may see by referring 

 either to An. and Mag. of Natural Hist., ser. 2, 1854, vol. xiv., 

 p. 281, where Gosse first described this form, or to the Actin. Brit., 

 p. 90, where he places it in its proper position. I am inclined, 

 therefore, to believe that the reasons given by Dr. Andres for 



