18 



VEREILL ON THE POLYPS OF THE 



spots, arranged somewhat in vertical lines, occasionally forming irregular streaks ; tentacles 

 yellowish green, with a dark brown spot at the base, and often with longitudinal lines of 

 brown or dark green, and tipped with white ; disk dark, greenish brown, lightest around the 

 mouth. 



Height of a good-sized specimen in expansion, 2 inches ; breadth, 1.5. 

 Charleston, S. C. (L. Agassiz). 



There are numerous good specimens of this species in the Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy, and in the possession of Prof. Agassiz are several colored drawings made from life by 

 Mr. Burkhardt, from which I have taken the description of the tentacles and colors. 



Prof. Agassiz has also another drawing representing a cluster attached within the cavities 

 of a stone, apparently the young of this species. These are nearly uniform greenish, with 

 the tentacles tipped with white, thus corresponding very well with the description by Bosc. 



Genus Rhodactinia Agassiz. 



Cribrina [pars) Ehrenberg (1834). Rhodactinia Agassiz, Comptes-rendus, xxv. p. 677, 

 Nov. 1847 (extract from a letter to Humboldt); Revue Zoologique par la Societe Cuvie'ri- 

 enne, 1847, p. 394 (another extract from the same letter as the preceding). Bwiodes 

 {pars) Gosse, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxi. p: 274 (1855). Cereus [pars) Milne-Edwards, Coralliaires 

 (1857). Tealia Gosse, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 3d ser. i. p. 417 (Jan. 1858). 



Column low, shorter than broad ; the walls firm and thick, with a thickened fold near the 

 upper margin in adult specimens ; surface covered by distant verrucae, which are arranged in 

 vertical rows along the ambulacra! regions, but so remotely as to appear scattered ; these 

 are less prominent and persistent than in the preceding genus, being often so reduced as to 

 be scarcely apparent. Mouth large, often everted ; tentacles large, cylindrical, with dis- 

 tinct openings at the ends. 



This genus, named and briefly described by Prof. Agassiz in 1847, corresponds perfectly 

 to that recently established by Gosse under the name Tealia, the typical species of the for- 

 mer, R. Davisii, being the American representative of R. crassicomis of Europe, which is the 

 type of Tealia. 



Rhodactinia Davisii Agassiz. 



Rhodactinia Davisii Agassiz, Comptes-rendus, xxv. p. 077 (Nov. 1847); Revue Zoologique Soc. Cuvierienne, p. 394 (1847, the 

 deep-water form). Actinia obtruncala Stimpson, Marine Invertebrata of Grand Menan, p. 7 (1853, the littoral form). Actinia car- 

 neola Stimpson, 1. c. p. 7 (young). 



Plate I. figure 9. 



The column is short, cylindrical, broader than high, sometimes four inches broad and 

 about two high in expansion ; walls thick, somewhat cartilaginous, with scattered papil- 

 lse, which are usually but slightly prominent, and often inconspicuous, the surface then 

 appearing smooth or reticulated ; these, though widely scattered, are in vertical lines, cor- 

 responding to the sub-tentacular chambers within ; in adult specimens there is a thickened 

 fold near the upper edge of the column. Tentacles numerous, in several indistinct rows 

 near the margin of the disk, conical or cylindrical, thick, rather short, obtusely rounded at 

 the ends, or even at times club-shaped. The disk is usually flat, but sometimes convex. 

 The mouth (actinostome) is large, oblong, with a similar fold at each end, in front of which 

 on both sides there is a large rounded fold, giving a somewhat rectangular appearance to 



