TWO NEW TYPES OF ACTINIARIA. 
143 
Two New Types of Actiniaria. 
By 
G. Herbert Fowler, B.A., Ph.D., 
Assistant to the Jodrell Professor of Zoology in University College, London. 
With Plate XV. 
In a bottle of corals, which had been collected from the reefs 
at Papeete during the expedition of H.M.S. “ Challenger,” and 
sent to me by Mr. John Murray for investigation, I was fortu- 
nate enough to meet with three small specimens of an Actin- 
arian, which differs so markedly from all known types, that it 
will apparently necessitate in the future the formation of a new 
tribe of Actinaria, of equal value with the Hexactinise, Edward- 
siae, Ceriantheae, &c. From the study of such an isolated 
form, it is naturally impossible to deduce a satisfactory defini- 
tion for either tribe, genus, or species. I will therefore leave 
this omission to be filled up by future observers of allied forms, 
and merely describe the anatomical characteristics in order. I 
propose for the animal the name 
Thaumactis medusoides, gen. sp. nn. 
Of the three specimens at my disposal, the largest was about 
2'5 — 3 0 ram. in diameter, the second about 2'0 — 2 5 mm., 
and the smallest 0'8 mm. ; and, while the two larger were in a 
state of contraction (fig. I), 1 the smallest (fig. 2) was fairly 
1 Figs. 1 and 2, though carefully drawn with camera lucida under reflected 
and transmitted light, were seen, on the study of sections, to be inaccurate in 
some points, such as the exact number of the tentacles. In cases of dis- 
crepancy between these two figures and the text, the latter is therefore to be 
followed. 
