A. E. Verrill — New Actinians. 211 



thicker than the oblique muscles of the opposite side. They 

 extend over the whole breadth of the mesenteries, in a nearly 

 uniform thin layer ; the mesoglcea is thin with only rudimentary 

 muscle-processes. 



The stomodseum is long and large, extending down to about 

 midheight of the body ; the two siphonoglyphs are very deep, 

 smooth inside, and extend downward as two large pocket-like 

 lobes, far below the stomodseum, and nearly to the basal disk. 

 They are about half as long and nearly half as wide as the cen- 

 tral part of the stomodseum. The free parts of the directive 

 mesenteries are therefore short, narrow, and sterile. The 

 walls of the stomodseum are strongly folded and also have, 

 each, about 36 principal interior plications on each side, nearly 

 all of which are dark brown in color, even after being 16 

 years in alcohol. 



The sphincter muscle is mesodermal, very broad, but not 

 very thick, though it forms more than half the thickness of the 

 wall distally, where it is slightly club-shaped, in section, and 

 blunt at the end ; it extends down about half the height of the 

 column, gradually becoming thinner, but locally thickened 

 where the body is most contracted. The wall is flexible, but 

 strong, and of moderate thickness ; the mesoglcea is rather 

 thick, compact and nearly even; not much thickened at the 

 collar ; the ectoderm is rather thick, soft, and so folded by the 

 fine wrinkles, running in both directions that the whole surface 

 often appears to be covered by small wart-like, irregular eleva- 

 tions and papillae, but the mesoglcea does not rise into them. 

 When living it was smooth, or nearly so, in full expansion. 

 The whole body contracts very much in alcohol, and more so 

 than most species. The collar is but slightly marked even in 

 the contracted specimens, and is not apparent in the live ones ; 

 the fosse is also very slight ; the margin is tentaculate ; the 

 outer tentacles, in alcohol, are very short and conical. 



This remarkable species was taken on the Gulf Stream slope, 

 south of Martha's Vineyard, in 62 to 192 fathoms. It lives 

 well in aquaria, One large specimen was kept two months. 

 On one occasion it caught and swallowed a very active golden 

 mackerel (Oaranx) a foot in length, though several inches of 

 the fish's tail projected out of the mouth for some hours. 



Synanthus mirabllis Ver. Figure 23. 



This Journal, xviii, p. 4*74, 1879; Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., xi, p. 48, 1883, 

 pi. vi, fig. 9 ; Ann. Rep. U. S. Fish Com., p. 534, 1885. 



Two alcoholic specimens are now figured ; these are united 

 by sutures, side by side, and together surround a branch of 

 Paragorgia, like a ligature, making a deep constriction, as in 



