198 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XII. 



to find under the stones in the water some PeronisB, those 

 erratic slug-like creatures which usually creep about on the 

 rocks above high- water mark ; and lastly, the peacock-tailed 

 seaweed (Padiaa), which I had found in the Pescadores, in 

 North Formosa, in the adjacent islands, and in many other 

 places, was here growing in great profusion. 



A third island was Pulo Enoe, the most southerly of the 

 group, and a mere clump of trees, connected to Labuan by a 

 reef, upon which were numerous hammer-muscles (Malleus), 

 Pinnae, and other shells. But one animal from the reef was 

 of far more interest than all the rest. This was a magnifi- 

 cent species of anemone, which has its abode in crevices of 

 the rock, just below low- water mark. I succeeded in re- 

 moving one entire, which gave me an opportunity of record- 

 ing this beautiful new genus. The tentacles instead of being 

 simple or club-shaped, as usual in most species, were singu- 

 larly ramified, each tentacle giving origin to several branches, 

 and each branch terminating in a fine curved tendril-like 

 branchlet. This beautiful sea-flower was seated upon a thick 

 corrugated yellow column, and measured, when expanded, 

 nearly five inches across, the ramifications of the tentacles 

 being picked out with a bright yellow line, and the central 

 part of the disk brownish pink. The Actinia, described by 

 Quoy and Gaimard under the name of Actinodendron, bears 

 no resemblance to this species, and yet no fitter name could 

 be given to the genus than Dendractinia. I afterwards 

 found a similar individual on the beach west of Singapore, 

 but was unable to secure it. 



Nearly every evening (in August — September) during my 

 stay in Labuan, the sky clouded over a little before sunset, and 

 became gloomy, and during the night it often rained heavily. 

 It is said that 160 inches of rain per ann. fall in the island, 



