Stephenson — Certain Actiniaria collected off Ireland. 143 



3. SE. 327. May 8, 1906. 60 miles W. £ N. of Tearaght Light. Lat. 

 N. 51° 46'; Long. W. 12° 14' 30". Trawl. 550-800 fathoms. 1 specimen. 



4. SE. 353. Aug. 6, 1906. Lat, N. 50° 37-50° 40'. Long. W. 11° 32'. 

 250-542 fathoms. Trawl. 6 specimens. 



5. SE. 353. (See 4.) 8 specimens. 



6. SE. 353. (See 4.) 5 specimens. 



Measurements: (1) A typical large specimen. — Greatest diameter of mouth 

 of basal cup, 5'9 cm. ; of outside of cup, 7'5 cm. ; diameter of middle of column. 

 3"Scm.; of upper part of column, 5 cm.; depth of basal cup, ca. 4 em.; 

 otal height of animal, 1 1 "2 cm. ; length of a large tentacle, ca. 1-5 cm. 



(ii) Smallest specimen. Total height, 5'S cm. 



External characters. — The base forms, in all but one of the specimens, a 

 sand or mud-clasping hollow. The one exception has an irregular base with 

 its edges meeting one another, and seems to have clasped a small shell. In 

 the others, the bulbous bases are very various in extent, and in details of 

 development. They are not always of greater diameter than the column, 

 but when best developed they widely exceed it, forming a broad cup with a 

 thin and perfectly smooth wall, and a very sharply defined margin. The 

 orifice of the cup is usually wide, but sometimes quite small. The basal cup 

 has sometimes a very definite lining of cuticle, like thin, soft brown paper — 

 but in other cases there is no trace of lining. The outer sides of these cups — 

 that is to say, the lowest parts of the column — are always smooth or practically 

 so. The column is always higher than wide, typically pillar-like, with broad 

 base, cylindrical middle part, and either slightly or considerably wider upper 

 end iPl. XV, fig. 3), even though all the specimens are contracted. It has a 

 very hard, firm, cartilaginous consistency, and the wall is very thick as a rule, 

 though it varies a good deal in different cases. In one specimen (S.E. 171), 

 which is aberrant, and has practically no tubercles (and which I refer to this 

 species with a query), it is fairly thin. The body is almost pure white in 

 some cases, but fiesh-coloured in most. I can see no trace of cuticle at all, 

 though there are remnants of dirt and mucus in cracks, &c, sometimes. 

 Above the level of the smooth outer surface of the basal cup, the scapus is 

 for the most part covered with tubercles ; below, these are rather nodules 

 caused by transverse and longitudinal furrows than tubercles, and tend to 

 be large and indefinite, often somewhat rectangular; above, they are more 

 distinct and rounded. They sometimes have a slight " head," and vary in size 

 and prominence to a large extent in different cases, being sometimes very 

 large, occasionally almost obsolete : they have as a rule uot much tendency 

 to regular arrangement. The narrow submarginal /.one of the body is very 



