Haddon and Shackleton— ^ Revision of the British Actinice. 647 



Form. — The column is elongated, tapering from above downwards ; tlie body- 

 wall is well incrusted, but when the sand is rubbed off, the body-wall is thin and 

 translucent. The capitulum has about 14 ridges ; these may be present or absent 

 in preserved specimens ; in the latter case their absence appears to be due to their 

 being rubbed when in the dredge. Tentacles bicyclic, about 14 in number in 

 each cyle, the inner being slightly the longer and more curved. Mouth linear, on 

 a slight cone. Coenenchyme, thin, either baud-like, or forming small expansions. 



Colour. — Sandy, sometimes dull, tawny-orange when alive ; disc translucent 

 buff, lips white, pale radii ; tentacles translucent buff, opaque-white spot at tip. 



Dimensions. — Usually about 10—14 mm. in height, and 2-3 mm. in diameter at 

 the top of the contracted specimens, occasionally reaching a height of 18—20 mm., 

 with a diameter of 4-5-5 mm. 



Habitat. — S. W. Ireland ; about 30 miles off Cape Clear (PI. lviii., figs. 

 27, 28), 80 fathoms; 40 fathoms off G-landore, Co. Cork ; Berehaven, Bantry 

 Bay, 10 fathoms (A. C. H.), (PI. lviii., fig. 26), [Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. (2), iv., 

 Sci., 1886, in which Report Mr. S. 0. Ridley identified this form as Palythoa 

 arenacea{?), D. Ch., p. 617]. 



The Rev. Canon Norman has sent us specimens of an Epizoanthus from 

 Birterbuy Bay, Co. Galway. They were unfortunately too badly preserved for 

 us to be able to study them minutely, but at all events the sphincter muscle 

 closely resembles that of our specimens from S. W. of Ireland, and externally 

 they agreed fairly well with the English specimens of this species. Some very 

 similar Channel Island specimens (identified as " Z.^' couchii), which he gave us at 

 the same time, probably belong to this species. 



Fischer's (1874) description is as follows : — " The base of the colony is clothed 

 with a layer of agglutinated sand, extending more or less ; the polyps, irregularly 

 disposed, have their column protected b3^ a coating of sand ; this is cylindrical and 

 elongated when completely extended ; colour cindery-gray ; the superior border has 

 14 to 15 teeth. The tentacles, disposed in two rows, are short, whitish, and to the 

 number of 28—30. The disc is whitish ; the mouth small, transverse." 



The specimens came from " Arcachon, from 20-45 brasses. The colonies were 

 fixed on to the shell of Chenopiis pes-pelicani, which gives lodging to a Sipunculus. 

 Alder has identified it at Guernsey. M. Sauvage has obtained it at Boulogne on 

 Pecten maxiiuus, dredged in the channel " (p. 235). In his " bathymetrical distri- 

 bution " he records this species on the oceanic coasts of France, from the NuUipore 

 zone (28—72 metres), p. 239. The other Papers are merely abstracts. 



To sum up the history of this species we may put the present state of our 

 knowledge in this form. Johnston quotes Couch's description of the Cornish type 

 specimens. Gosse, Holdsworth, and Hincks obtained Devonshire specimens which 

 are probably the same as the former. Forbes identifies it as having been dredged 



