1 111 ZOOPHYTES. 



end of each of them is armed is used in killing the ani- 

 malcules, crabs and molluscs, on which the anemone feeds, 

 as well as in warning off any hostile intruder. 



The species of anemones that are found on the Ameri- 

 can coast are numerous, but have not been sufficiently 

 studied to permit me to give a list of them. Lc Scur, 

 in volume first of the Transactions of the Academy of natu- 

 ral sciences of Philadelphia, describes two species found on 

 the coast near New York and which he calls respectively 

 Actinia rapiformis and A. marginata. 



Actinia rafiforviis is described by Le Seur as follows : 



" Tentacles, short, cylindrical, equal, disposed in four rows. 

 Body, fleshy, very contractile, assuming different forms and 

 frequently those of a turnip and pear, the former of which 

 it resembles in its dull, opaque white color ; when con- 

 tracted it is of a sub-globular form. The young arc more 

 transparent than the old and are sometimes of a darker 

 color. It is found in the sand of the United States coast 

 and raises its head above the common surface for the pur- 

 pose of displaying its tentacles. When contracted in its 

 habitation, it is concealed below the surface." Its dimen- 

 sions arc one inch and a half across, by four to five 

 inches in length. I am of opinion that this must be the 

 same species that is found so abundantly at Ilurlgatc just 

 above New York city, though Lc Seur's specimens came 

 from Egg Harbor, New Jersey. 



Actinia marginata (Plate X., Fig. 2) has eight or nine 

 rows of tentacles, which are short, slender, equal, placed 

 on a large expansion, the plaits whereof present ten or 

 twelve large lobes ; the border of the upper extremity of 



