In Plate VIII. are two varieties, previously described, of _Actinia dianthus_, the plumose or feather-like Anemone. In front, below them, is the representation of one of the most splendid of all the species, having received the specific name _Gemmacea_, from the gem-like appearance produced by the touches of colour—blue, buff, and brown—about the orifice of the mouth or stomach, and about its sharply-pointed tentacles. The stem or body is also variegated with rows of brightly tinted tubercles, and its whole surface is clouded with pale iridescent, or rather nacreous, tones of pink and azure, varied with occasional flashes of orange. All the species are furnished with tubercles of a similar description about the stem or body, but in many they are not so conspicuous, and in others almost imperceptible; yet they no doubt exist in all, as they are not merely ornamental, but essential organs, peculiar to this class of creatures; being reservoirs from which they can shoot forth a thread, furnished with a barbed and poisoned dart, by means of which they are able to attain an enemy, or victim, far beyond the reach of their tentacles. Mr. Gosse very graphically describes the death of a small fish struck by one of these thread-borne poisoned arrows, at some distance from the offended _Actinia_, who launched his dart, as it seemed, for no greater provocation than a slight disturbance of the water rather nearer to his retreat than was agreeable. [Illustration: PLATE VIII. 1. Actinia gemmacea. 3. & 4. Actinia mesembrianthemum. 5. Lucernaria auricula. 6. Virgularia mirabilis.] The _Actinia gemmacea_, it would appear, is a more voracious creature than most of his congeners, for Dr. Johnston, in his splendid work on the British Zoöphytes, describes one of this species that had managed to swallow a shell of _Pecten maximus_ as large as a common saucer, its own natural diameter not exceeding two inches. It managed, however, to distend its elastic form sufficiently to receive the enormous prey; but the shell divided the stomach into two completely separate departments, the lower one being thus perfectly shut off from its usual supplies. To meet this difficulty, the organic economy of the creature adapted itself in a most extraordinary manner; a new mouth was opened below the division, furnished with two rows of new tentacles, and thus the lower portion regained a means of taking in nourishment, the whole creature forming a singular double monster, that, not contented with its one giant mouth, surrounded with its hundred arms to supply its voracious appetite, had actually succeeded in supplying itself with a second, equally furnished with its formidable feeding apparatus.