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border or margin. Each space between the furrows, is 

 frequently again furrowed by two or three finer ones ; but 

 these are not always apparent, especially when the animal 

 is much distended. When the polype is fully expanded, 

 the oral surface is frequently enlarged from half-an-inch to 

 one inch and half, and the furrows of the sides appear as 

 if they terminated superiorly in tubercular looking bodies. 

 The shape varies as in the contracted state, from the co- 

 lumnar to the hemispherical and hourglass contracted form. 

 The oral surface is generally of a darker brown than the 

 other parts, and nearly always marked with one, frequently 

 with two, and sometimes with many white radiating lines, 

 which terminate at the base of the tentacula. The mouth 

 is central, slightly elevated, irregular in shape, and marked 

 with two furrows internally which run down into the 

 stomach. The tentacula are long and stout, and vary in 

 number with the age of the individual; Gaertner says they 

 amount occasionally to 200, and I have counted 150 ; they 

 are about twice the length of the body when fully expanded, 

 and are incapable of being withdrawn as is the case with the 

 Actinias. They are of very unequal length and size, and 

 frequently get contracted in various parts as if diseased ; this 

 is most probably the case, since the upper portion is fre- 

 quently sloughed off, and thus they become truncated. I 

 have in four instances found the tentacula on one side entirely 

 absent, or so short as to be little more than mere tubercles 

 and others springing up in their places. Almost every spe- 

 cimen examined, shows this growth and decay of the 

 tentacula in a greater or less degree, the smaller ones 

 springing up between the larger and perfect ones in every 

 degree of length. Beside this, the tentacula are liable to 

 mal-formations, some give off one or more lateral sprouts, 

 and others I have seen dichotomously branched ; this last 

 however is very rare. 



There are two varieties of this species, equally common, 

 which are always intermingled with each other at all seasons. 

 One is of a light fawn colour both in the body and tentacula, 

 but the oral surface is rather of a deeper colour than the 

 other parts ; the other is of a pea-green and remarkable for 

 the great delicacy of its tints; the tentacula are always lighter 

 than in the brown variety, and they have a white line running 

 up on one side. In the green kind the tentacula are always 

 of a rose colour at their extremities, which is in the spring 

 and summer of a deeper tint, and extends sometimes over two 

 thirds the whole length. Gaertner has seen it extend and 

 colour the whole tentacula of a red-mahogany colour. The 

 brown variety is frequently without it. 



This appears to be a more active kind than any of the 

 Actinias; its tentacula are constantly expanded and in con- 



