JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 



Vol. LXII. Part II.— NATURAL SCIENCE, 

 No. III.— 1893, 



On some Actiuiaria from the Indian Seas. By A. Alcock, M. B, 

 C.M.Z.S., Offg. Superintendent of the Indian Museum. 



[Eead July 5th.] 



In this short paper I propose to notice only the two aberrant Tribes 

 Zoanthese and Gerianthinese. 



I. ZoANTHE^). 



The Zoanthese are a tribe of sea-anemones distinguished, according- 

 to the limitations of R. Hertwig in his Report on the ' Challenger ' 

 Actiniaria, where full references are given, by the possession of septa 

 of two kinds — larger septa (macrosepta) which alone bear mesenteric 

 filaments and reproductive organs, and smaller septa (microsepta) 

 which are sterile. 



The Zoanthese include two families — the Zoanthidse which are pecu- 

 liar among all sea-anemones in forming colonies of which the units 

 are connected together by a canaliculated coenenchyma, and the 

 Sphenopidse which are solitary in the sense that the individuals are not 

 morphologically connected, but appear to be gregarious in habit. 



The majority of the Zoanthese are characterized by the possession 

 of a thick test very homogeneously compacted of small grains of sand. 

 J. ii. 20 



