156 J. E. DurrpeEn—Jamaican Actiniaria : 
My reasons for transferring this genus from the family Rhodactide, where it 
has usually been placed, to the family Discosomide, are given under the discussion 
on the former family. 
Succinctly, the history of the genus is as follows: MM. Duchassaing and 
Michelotti (1860) first established Ricordea for the species about to be noticed ; 
in 1877, Klunzinger erected the genus Heteranthus for a very similar form, 
HT, verruculatus, from the Red Sea; Andres associated this latter species with the 
genus Actinothrix, which Duchassaing and Michelotti had erected for the form 
here described as Actinotryx Sancti-Thome, placing Ricordea florida among the 
‘“‘ species incertee sedis.” M*Murrich (1889), considering Duchassaing and Miche- 
lott’s definition of their genus Ricordea to be only specific, not generic, in 
character, disregarded it in favour of Klunzinger’s Heteranthus ; in a later paper 
M*Murrich (1896) returns to the original term Ricordea. 
As at present known the genus includes with certainty only the one species, 
Rk. florida. 'The precise position of Heteranthus verruculatus cannot be established 
until an anatomical examination of it has been made. Haddon (1898, p. 481) 
suggests that two or three other species, described under different generic terms, 
may also be included along with &. florida. 
Ricordea is undoubtedly closely allied to the two genera Discosomoides and 
Discosoma, as these are defined by Haddon (p. 470) from Simon’s researches. 
The three agree in haying a smooth column-wall, tuberculiform or papilliform 
tentacles, no gonidial grooves, numerous perfect mesenteries, and sphincter 
muscle absent or weak. Both R. florida and D. nummiforme are, in addition, 
characterized by the clearness of their mesogloea, and the exceptional structure of 
their mesenterial filaments. 
Ricordea florida.—(Pl. x., fig. 7; Pl. x1, figs. 5, 6; Pl. xir., figs. 1, 2; Pl. xu1., 
fig. 1), Duchassaing and Michelotti. 
Ricordea florida, . . Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860, p. 42, pl. vi., 
mee, IL 2 NOG, jo WB s Almchras, WSS, jo, GID s 
M°*Murrich, 1896, p. 188. 
Heteranthus floridus, . M°Murrich, 1889, p. 47, pl. 1., fig. 10; pl. iv., 
figs. 4—5. 
The base is usually smaller in diameter than the column, and adheres so closely 
to the irregular surfaces of coral rock as to render almost impossible the removal 
of the polyp without injury or the separation of fragments of the rock. 
The column is short and variously outlined. Simple forms are cylindrical, but 
compound examples are elongated laterally and sinuous above; the limbus is 
generally irregular, and often of less diameter than the more distal part of the 
