1869.] and Membranipora Bengalensis. 31 



Sub-family, Sagartiin^. 

 (Sagartiadce, Gosse.) 

 The body is, according to Gosse, generally remarkably soft, more or 

 less pulpy, lubricated on the surface with copious mucus, exteriorly 

 mostly studded with sucking cavities, which, by forming a vacuum 

 have the power of adhering to foreign bodies, but the margins of these 

 cavities do not rise into conspicuous warts ; the base is usually broad, 

 the column moderately high, furrowed longitudinally ; the tentacles 

 are smooth, simple, generally arranged in uninterrupted circles at the 

 margin of the disk ; the cnidce of the tissue are usually of the stilet 

 kind, being long cells, with a short in itself retractile nagellum, called 

 by Gosse the ecthorceum. 



Gosse distinguishes the following divisions, from the relation of 

 which the generic classification of our species will become apparent. 

 A; Tentacles moderately long, slender, 

 a ; disk perfectly retractile, 



a ; column soft, destitute of suckers ... Actinoloba, 



/?; „ ,, with suckers Sagartia, 



y ; ,, partly provided with a rough 



epidermis Phellia 



b ; disk imperfectly retractile, . Adamsia et Grcgoria 

 B ; Tentacles represented by mere warts . . Discosoma. 



Genus, Sagartia, Gosse, 1855. 



All the species of Sagartia are characterized by a thick, fleshy, con- 

 tractile body, adherent by a base which is under ordinary circumstances 

 wider than the height of the column ; the surface is studded with 

 numerous small suckers, not forming permanent warts, and with many 

 comparatively large cinclides ; the peripherical margin of the disk is dis- 

 tinct, but not separately thickened ; the tentacles are simple, placed 

 near the outer periphery of the disk; they are generally very numerous, 

 but variable in length and arrangement ; the mouth is somewhat ele- 

 vated, provided with two gonidial grooves, each having a pair of 

 tubercles on either side ; the acontia are numerous, and are emitted 

 freely. 



