from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 403 



serving as organs of touch and prehension, and which can be 

 extended or retracted at pleasure. The whole of the upper sur- 

 face is tinted with gay or softly blended colours, often of great 

 beauty. Internally the mouth leads into a sac-like stomach, sur- 

 rounded by a space divided by a series of radiating membranous 

 lamellae, between which are the organs of respiration and repro- 

 duction. Without the whole is a thick muscular skin. 



Fixed by their flat bases to rocks or stones, the Actiniae extend 

 their tentacles and seize and devour any small animals that 

 come within their reach. When at rest or when alarmed, the 

 animal withdraws all its oral and tentacular apparatus, and the 

 body shrinks into a cylindrical, spheroidal, or conical mass. 



(1.) — Actinia Dia.nthus. 



Near the mouth of Gaspe Basin is a patch of gravelly bottom 

 at a depth of from eight to ten fathoms, which abounds in sea 

 anemones, and especially in the fine species represented in Figs. 

 1 and 2, and which appears identical with the A. dianthus of the 

 British coast. It falls within the characters of the published de- 

 scriptions of that species, and cannot properly be separated from 

 it, though it presents some points of difference. As compared 

 with the British figures and descriptions, my Gaspe specimens 

 show somewhat longer oral bands, with wedge shaped secondary 

 bands between their extremities ; the inner tentacles are more 

 crowded toward the margin, and the range of colouring is different. 

 These characters ma} 7 however be within the limits of variation 

 of the species.* 



In the spot above referred to, not only were the Actiniae abun- 

 dant, but the stones to which they were attached could be taken 

 up with the dredge ; so that in a few hours dredging, about thirty 

 perfect specimens were obtained, and being placed in basins of 

 salt water, could be drawn and studied at leisure. Observed in 

 this way, they presented a great variety of colouring, form, and 

 attitude. I have selected the drawings copied in Figs. 1 and 2, 

 from several others, as exhibiting the ordinary attitude of repose, 

 and that of watching for prey, with the body extended to its full 

 length. Both figures represent individuals of small size — the 

 larger specimens beiug four inches in diameter when expanded. 

 In their habits they corresponded with the accounts of the species 

 given by Johnston and Landsborough, and like the British speci- 



* Johnston, British Zoophytes. P. 232. 



