150 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. X. 



in profusion, they replied, " Chinaman eat Trepang, Ma- 

 layu no." I collected some, however, and found upon them 

 numerous Stilifers. Echiuoderms were, however, few. There 

 were no starfishes; but a delicate, long-spined Echinus 

 (Calamaris annulata), which moved very nimbly by means 

 of attenuated suckers, so as to elude capture by creeping 

 into crevices from which it was impossible to dislodge it 

 without breaking the tender, barred spiaes. It was not easy 

 to touch the spines of this species ever so lightly without 

 being wounded. Even when carefully approaching them I 

 have found the spiaes sticking into my hand ; and I was 

 almost persuaded that they had the power of ejecting some 

 portion of the spine as a means of defence — a persuasion 

 which I afterwards found amounted to a belief in the minds 

 of some who had met with this species upon the reefs at 

 Labuan, where it also occurs. 



There were but few Crustacea, and the most interesting 

 was a new species of the elegant genus MeHa, small in size, 

 and having the carapace tesselated, and delicately painted 

 with black, red, and yeUow. Mr. Spence Bate has named it 

 M. grossimana. 



But by far the most remarkable circumstance I met with 

 on the Fiery Cross Eeef was the discovery of some Actiniae of 

 enormous size, and of habits no less novel than striking. 

 I observed in a shallow spot a large and beautiful convo- 

 luted mass, of a deep blue colour, which, situated as it was 

 in the midst of coloured corals, I at first supposed to be also 

 a coral. Its singular appearance, however, induced me to 

 feel it, when the peculiar tenacious touch of a sea-anemone 

 made me rapidly withdraw my hand, to which adhered some 

 shreds of its blue tentacles. I then perceived that it was an 

 immense Actinia, which, when expanded, measured fully 



