I 17 



the Polypes thai Becrete i polypidom and those without > poly- 

 pidom. 



Of late yean ddawuia palUata has so decreased in tin-, locality, 

 that I have seen hut one since the severe winter some three or four 

 years ago; tin- was given me in September last by mi friend Mr, 

 Busk, and i- -till alive and will in one dt' my tank-, hut tno ralnable 

 to submit to the dissecting knife. I trnsl tin- Bummer to obtain 

 other specimens, when I bope to wttle it- proper position ami 

 the Anthozoa. 



As regards Bpecies, 1 retrain from touching on that point in tin- pre- 

 sent paper, hut purpose doing bo at an early period, when a careful 

 examination of a larger Dumber of individuals 'shall enable me to 



-peak with authority a- to which arc bond fide -pecic- and also those 



that are merely varieties. The rage for marine vivaria has thrown 



many useless workers into the field; and I much (car thai what 

 may possibly tend to a love of nature doc- not always a- a matter 

 of course advance science. The improper multiplication of -| • 



is a serious injury to the well-being of Natural History ; and 1 inu-t 

 admit I should like to see a council formed of five, ten, fifty, or ;iny 



number of the most celebrated naturalists, and that no new Bpecies 



or arrangement should he published without their con-cut being first 

 obtained. This would effectually prevent varieties and deformities 

 creeping in as species, and objects already described and known 

 being reproduced as new species, or, may be, even as a new genus. 



Proposed rearrangement of British Actiniadte, with a revision of 

 the genera : — 



Anthozoa, Owen. 

 Body soft, contractile, in every part symmetrical. Tentacle- 

 hollow, possessing thread-cells, and in most with pectinated margins, 

 in uninterrupted circle- or groups. Stomach suspended by radiating 

 mesogastric folds in an abdominal cavity. No intestine ; mouth and 

 vent generally one, placed in the centre of the upper di-k. rery dila- 

 table. With or without polypary; when present usually internal. 



Without polypary. 



\ I I I M V 1 > I . . 



Free and solitary, <>r gregarious. Tentacles simple, rarely branched 



Or davate, more than twelve often in more than one rOW in unin- 

 terrupted circles. Body single, fleshy, elongate or conical, fi\ed 

 by it- base, and generally with the power of locomotion. B - 

 broad and adherent. 



A. '/'< ntoA let conical. 



\ A. Body without »■ wswi trntooth. 



A \ i ii i \, Johnston. 

 Bodv adherent, cylindrical, smooth, without tubercles on th< 



