514 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [12] 



ment of the dead parent coral adhering to its base, is Basmosmilia 

 Lymani (fig. 17). It was taken in 57 to 1,091 fathoms. 



The Actinians are represented in deep water by several very large 

 species, some of them handsomely colored. Several hundreds often 

 come up in a single haul of the trawl, making a bushel or more in 

 bulk. As most of these secrete from their surfaces a large amount of 

 slimy mucus, their presence in such numbers is often a nuisance, as the 

 slime obscures and injures rarer and more delicate things. An orange 

 or pale red species, Bolocera Tuedice, living mostly in 150 to 640 fathoms, 

 is among the most common and most slimy. It has a smooth body, 

 often 3 or 4 inches in diameter, with numerous very large light orange- 

 red tentacles, 2 or 3 inches long and about as large as a man's 

 fingers. These tentacles cannot be retracted and are very easily de- 

 tached, and then resemble peculiar worms, for they retain the power 

 of motion for some hours. They also have powerful stinging organs, or 

 "nettling threads," which are able to poison the human hand severely, 

 especially between the fingers, when the skin is softened by prolonged 

 handling of the wet specimens, so that for those persons who are sensi- 

 tive to such poisons they render the handling of the contents of the 

 dredge rather unpleasant. 



A very singular, large, soft, pinkish Lernean crustacean {Antheacheres 

 Duhenii Sars, fig. 167-8) lives parasitically in the stomach of this Ac- 

 tinian, with which it agrees in color. It is not uncommon. A large, 

 bright orange, scaly annelid, over 2 inches long [Polynoe aurantiaca V.), 

 lives as a commensal among the tentacles. 



Another common red or orange Actinian, taken in 55 to 616 fathoms, 

 but most abundant in 150 to 400 fathoms, is Actinauge nodosa (fig. 20), 

 which grows quite as large as the preceding, but has very numerous 

 and smaller, retractile, red or orange-brown tentacles ; vertical rows of 

 tubercles cover the firm body, while just below the tentacles there is a 

 broad zone which, like the tentacles, secretes an abundance of mucus, 

 which is highly phosphorescent, so that when irritated the upper end 

 of the body is illuminated, looking something like a large torch in the 

 dark. In the deep-sea mud it has a bulbous base, but in less depths it 

 attaches itself by a flat base to stones and shells, or clasps its base 

 around worm-tubes and branches of corals. 



Another very large and much handsomer species of thiis genus, with 

 the same phosphorescent character and similar habits, is Actinauge 

 longicornis V. (fig. 21), which has been taken many times in 100 to 

 325 fathoms. It often becomes 3 or 4 inches broad across the body, 

 and 5 or 6 high, while the long, slender, tapered, pale pink tenta- 

 cles, banded with purple, may be 3 or 4 inches long, and when 

 fully expanded they may fill a space 10 or 12 inches in diameter, or 

 the size of an ordinary water bucket. The body is white or pink, and 

 has a somewhat parchment-like appearance. It bears rows of small 

 warts. A still larger and very common species, in 60 to 640 fathoms, 



