1889.] Across the Santa Barbara Channel. 391 
brought to the blind ends of the tubes. There is, however, 
appended to this extremity a long tube, which, bending back- 
ward, opens near the open end of the case of sand. The vent 
of the animal is situated at the extremity of this tube and is 
thus brought to the surrounding water. 
Encrusting the rocks in several places we also found a moist 
deposit of sand of one or two inches in thickness, also closely 
connected with an interesting habit of another and different 
group of marine animals. Bunodes, a common Actinian of 
the southern Californian coast covers itself with a coating of 
sand, and when the tide falls the animal contracts its tentacles, 
and nothing is to be seen but this sandy deposit, concealing ' 
the body of the Actinian. In this way the genus lives between 
successive rise and fall of the sea, shielded under its coating 
of sand for hours, enduring great changes of temperature and 
the lack of the pure sea water. Colonies of these Bunodes 
were found many feet above the low- water mark. They also 
are common on the rocks of the well known headland, Punta 
del Castillo, and can without difficulty be observed by anyone 
who will visit this locality at low or half tide. 
The island of Santa Cruz, as pointed out by Mr. Greene, 
has a peculiar flora which has many species not found on the 
neighboring continent, and genera which are only found in lands 
widely distant from it. It has also a peculiar species cf Helix. In 
a word, although a continental island in its fauna and flora it re- 
minds one of an oceanic island. Shall we interpret these facts by 
regarding it as a remnant of a continent or large body of land 
contiguous to California now submerged, or are other explana- 
tions to be sought ? There is certainly not much to indicate an 
oceanic character tothe SantaBarbara islands. Theirpeculiarity 
of flora can readily be explained by considering a change which 
has taken place in the climate of the mainland without affect- 
ing that of the islands. A change in the amount of moisture 
may have driven out the less hardy genera from the mainland, 
but left them still to survive on the islands. Moreover, a 
glacial period in California may have driven more hardy 
plants southward into a struggle with the less strong, in which 
