Part II. — Stichodactylince and Zoanthece. 147 



are also met with at Port Antonio. All these possess the thickenings on the 

 tentacles, and the disc tubercles are strongly developed. 



It is evidently a common West Indian anemone, having been recorded from the 

 following localities : attached to stones on the sand-banks of the island of Barbados 

 (Lesueur) ; St. Thomas and Barbados (Duchassaing and Michelotti) ; usually 

 fastened to blocks of coral rock in shallow water, Bahamas (M°Murrich). 



Professor M c Murrich has already described the form in considerable detail. 

 The salient features in which the Jamaican examples differ are the variability in 

 colour, and the entire absence, in some instances, of the thickenings on the tentacles. 

 The first mentioned character is especially noticeable in young specimens, these 

 being largely a mottled grey and black, in strong contrast with the more brilliant 

 colours of the large examples. P. mucosus, from the Australian seas, also displays 

 somewhat similar colour variations. 



The presence or absence of the thickenings on the tentacles would be worthy 

 of at least specific distinction were it not that every gradation can be traced 

 between the two extremes. 



In respect to the tubercles on the tentacles the West Indian representative of 

 the genus should be compared with the several species known from the Indo- 

 Pacific region. The former never shows anything beyond simple or bilobed 

 thickenings on the oro-lateral aspect of its tentacles, while the tentacles on 

 P. hligo, Ehr., from the Red Sea, may bear pedunculate and branched outgrowths ; 

 P. mucosus, H. & S., and P. levis, Kwiet., also carry slightly dendritic appendages. 



Family. — Rhoda.ctid,e, Andres. 



Phyttactinince (pars), . . Klunzinger, 1877. 



Rhodactidce, .... Andres, 1883 ; (pars) M c Murrich, 1889 ; Haclclon, 1898. 



Stichodactylinse, in which the tentacles are of two forms, marginal tentacles of 

 the ordinary form, arranged in a single cycle ; inner tentacles lobed or tuberculi- 

 form and irregularly arranged. 



Under this family Professor M°Murrich includes the two West Indian species, 

 Actinotryx (Rhodactis) Sancti-Thomce and Ricordea florida. Owing to more recent 

 researches, it seems to me imperative to remove Ricordea from this association and 

 to assign it a place among the Discosomidse, a position already hinted at both by 

 MM. Duchassaing and Michelotti (1866, p. 122), and by Professor Verrill (1869, 

 p. 462). 



The form and arrangement of the tentacles must undoubtedly be the determin- 

 ing consideration in the classification of the order; and in the two species men- 

 tioned, these bear no close relation one to the other. Ricordea agrees with the 

 chief characteristic of the Discosomidse in possessing tentacles all of one form and 



