Actinologia Britannica. a History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals
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1 y,' xl THE BRITISH SEA-ANEMONES AND CORALS. LONDON R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. I'iATE V 4 3 5 ® 1 M 1 1 * i ’JSfkT IN COLOURS B, n.DICRCS 1 BOLOCERA TUEDI/E, 3 AlPTASIA COUCHM 2 ANTHEA CEREUS 4 SACARTIA COCCINEA 5 . S. TROGLODYTE S. ACTINOLOGIA BRITANNICA. HISTORY or THE BRITISH SEA-ANEMONES AND CORALS. WITH COLOURED FIGURES OF THE SPECIES AND PRINCIPAL VARIETIES. BT PHILIP HENRY GOSSE, E.R.S. k » k LONDON: VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1860 . f PREFACE. Ix writing the following pages, I have lahonred to produce such a “ History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals,” as a student can work with. Having often painfully felt in studying works similar to the present, the evil of the vagueness and con- fusion that too frequently mark the descriptive portions, I have endeavoured to draw up the characters of the animals which I describe, with distinctive precision, and with order. It is said of Montagu that, in describing animals, he constantly wrote as if he had expected that the next day would bring to light some new species closely resembling the one before him ; and therefore his diagnosis can rarely be amended. Some writers mistake for precision an excessive minuteness, which only distracts the student, and is after all but the portrait of an individual. Others describe so loosely that half of the characters would serve as well for half-a-dozen other species. I have sought to avoid both errors : to make the diagnoses as brief as possible, and yet clear, by seizing on such characters, in each case, as are truly distinc- tive and discriminative. Further to aid the student, I have given the characters in a regular and definite order, so that he may at a glance compare species with species, or genus wdth genus, in their several parts and organs. In this I have received little aid—I may say almost literally ” none—from my predecessors. The “ History of British Zoophytes . VI PREFACE. by Dr. Johnston has hitherto been the Enghsh naturalist’s only notwithstanding the guide to the study of these creatures ; and value of this work in . many points, the almost utter worthless- ness of their specific characters has been often confessed. That ' excellent zoologist lived on a coast where the Anemones are feebly with species was represented ; and hence his jjersonal acquaintance very small, or the result woidd doubtless have been different. ” The elaborate “ Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires of M. Mdne-Edwards is liable to the same objection. A work of immense research, labour, and patience, it bears evidence in every page of being the produce of tire museum and the closet, not of the aquarium and the shore. With those species which possess no stony skeleton, the learned author evidently had no acquaint- ance,—or next to none ;—and hence he has merely reproduced the words of his authorities in all their vagueness ; while the distribution of the species into genera and families appears so full of manifest error to one personally familiar with the animals in a living state, that I have not attempted to folloAv his arrangement. I have been compelled, therefore, to draw up the characters of my subjects de novo ; and in doing so I have resorted to nature animals. For the last eight itself ; I have studied the living years I have searched the most prolific parts of the British shores, —the coast of Dorset, South and ISTorth Devon, and South as following pages show, had Wales ; and have moreover, the poured into my aquaria the productions of almost every other part of our coasts,—from the Channel Isles to the Shetlands. For these last I am indebted to the kindness of many zealous scientific friends, whose names appear in this volume, and to whom I here express my grateful obligation ; especially distin- guishing ]\Ir. F. H. West of Leeds, and the Rev. W. Gregor of Macduff, as pre-eminent in their contributions The result is that seventy-five species find their places in these pages, five of which are merely indicated, leaving seventy good species, exclusive of the Lucernariadce. Of these twenty- ; I’REFACK. vn four only are described in Johnston,—the rest of his species being either sjmonyms or resting on insufficient evidence. Fifty-four British species have been examined by myself, perhaps a larger mimber than have come under the notice of any other naturalist by far the greater part in life and health ; and thirty-foxir of these have been added to the British Fauna bj' myself. A new feature in works of this sort, which will strike the student, perhaps needs a word of explanation ; —I mean the dis- tingui.shing of the prominent varieties of each species by a diagnosis, and the assigning of a trivial name to each. Consider- ing the variability of many of the forms, I trust the convenience of this procedure will excuse the innovation. The analytical tables of the families, genera, and species, hitherto scarcely known in English zoological works, will, I think, be found useful ; nor will the attempt to tabulate the geographical distribution of the species be devoid of interest to the philosophic student. The plates must speak for themselves : they have been printed in colours by Mr. W. Dickes, who has spared no effort to make them, as nearly as possible, fac-similes of my original drawings, which were made from the life. Nearly two years have been occupied in the progressive publi- cation of the work, as it has been issued in bi-monthly parts. Advantages and disadvantages attend this mode of publication. Among the former may be reckoned that the information is brought down to the latest period, and that the successive parts stimulate the zeal and co-operation of fellow-labourers ; the book thus embodjdng the knowledge of many, rather than of one. Among disadvantages must be put doxvn, incongruities between the earlier and the later portions, statements made and opinions hazarded which are subsequently corrected, and omissions which are finally supplied. For these defects the author must cast himself on the kind consideration of his readers, who must be aware that no branch of science is at one stay even for a single month. ; VI 11 PREFACE. My labour has been performed con amore I have looked forward to it for many years past; and it is vith no small grati- fication that I see it completed. I send forth the result as one more tribute humbly offered to the glory of the Triune God, “ who 'is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” P. H. Gossb. Torquay, December, ]859. LIST OF PLATES. I. — 1. Actinoloba diauthus. 2. Sagartia bellis. 3. S troglodytes. 4, 5, 6. S. rosea. 7. S. venusta. 8, 9. S. sphyro- deta To face page II — 1, 8. Sagartia nivea. 2, 3, 4. S. miuiata. 5. S. troglodytes. 6. S. parasitica. 9, 10. S. ornata 42 III. —1, 2. Sagartia troglodytes. 3. S. viduata. 4, 5. S. pallida. 6. S. pura. 7, 8 Adamsia palliata 106 IV.— 1. Tealia crassicornis. 2, 3. Bunodes gemmacea. 4. B. Ballii. 5, 6. B. thallia 190 V,—1. Boloeera Tuedise. 2. Anthea cereus. 3. Aiptasia Couchii. 4. Sagartia coccinea. 5. S. troglodytes Front. VI. — 1 to 6. Actinia meserabryanthemum. 7. A. cbiococca. 8. Sa- gartia chrysosplenium. 9. Anthea cereus. 10. Tealia digitata. 11. S. viduata 206 VII.— 1. Phellia gausapata. 2. P. murocincta. 3. Gregoria fenes- trata. 4. Bunodes coronata. 5, 6. Edwardsia carnea. 7. E. callimorpha. 8. Ceriantlius Lloydii. 9, 10. Hal- campa chrj'santhellum. 11. H. microps 228 VIII.—Hormathia Margaritse. 2. Phellia Brodricii. 3. Peachia hastata. 4. P. undata. 5. Stomphia Churchise. 6. Ily- anthus Mitchellii 234 IX.— 1 to 5. Corynactis viridis. 6. Boloeera eques. 7. Zoanthus sulcatus. 8. Z. Alderi. 9, 10. Z. Couchii. 11. Aure- liania augusta. 12. A. heterocera. 13. Capnea san- guinea 282 — ; X LIST OF Pl.ATES. X.—1. Lophohelia prolifera. 2. Peacliia triphylla. 3. Sphenotro- chua Wrightii. 4. S. Macandrewanus. 5. Zoanthus Couchii. 6. Paracyathua Taxilianus. 7. P. pteropus. 8. P. Thulensia. 9. Hoplangia Durotrix. 10,11. Bala- nophyllia regia. 12, 13. Caryophyllia Smithii. To /ace p. 308 XI. Anatomical details. 1. Ideal demi-section of a Sagartia. c. stomacli d. liver a. septum ; b. septal foramen ; ; ; ovary craspedal mesentery e. ovarian mesentery ; /. ; ff. acontia. 2. Fragment of craspedum A. craspedum ; i. {S. bellis) with its mesentery {magnified). 3. The same craspedum under pressure {more highly magnified). 4. Fragment of acontium {S. bellis). 5. Portion of fully column containing cinclides {A. dianthus). k. open ; 6. cnida {Ca- 1. slightly open ; m. closed. Chambered ryophyllia) before discharge. 7. Chambered cnida {Tealia) o. strebla pterygia. discharged, n. ecthoreeum ; ; p. 8. Chambered cnida discharging, showing the ecthorseum in process of evolving. (N.B.—The strebla and pterygia are here omitted, for the sake of greater clearness.) 9. Tangled cnida {Corynactis). 10. Spiral cnida {Tealia) discharging. 11, 12. Globate cnidse {S. parasitica). q. peribola 348 XII. Magnified Figures. 1. Phellia picta. 2. Zoanthus sulcatus. 3. Edwardsia camea. 4. Caryophyllia (tentacle). 5. Zo- anthus Alderi. 6. Halcampa microps. 7. Gregoria fenestrata. 8. Phellia murocincta 358 INTRODUCTION. Though the following “ History of the British Sea- anemones and Corals ” is intended for general readers, it seems desirable that it should be accompanied by a brief Thumi of what is known concerning the anatomy and physiology of this order of animals. I have commenced the text of the work with a general description of the con- stituent parts of their bodies, in order to establish a determinate orismology for the class, and shall here assume that the reader is sufficiently familiar with the various organs, and the terms by which they are indicated.