Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/186

Rh spots of rich yellow, which are usually margined with deeper brown than the bands. The whole body is surrounded by close-set faint lines of pale hue, sometimes scarcely distinguishable, except near the summit, where they cut the bands in such a manner as to form, with other similar lines which there run length-wise, a reticulated pattern.

Towards the lower part of the body numerous warts appear, mostly minute, but a few among them are large and prominent. The body terminates above in a slightly thickened rim, which is minutely notched, but scarcely rises above the level of the disk, and is obliterated when the tentacles are fully expanded.

The disk is somewhat wider than the diameter of the body, which it over-arches on all sides. Its margin is somewhat thin, and occasionally thrown into puckered folds to a small extent. Thus it appears to approach the peculiar form of A. bellis. The disk is nearly flat or slightly hollowed, but rises in the centre into a stout cone, in the middle of which is the mouth, edged with crenated lips. The tentacles are arranged in seven rows, of which the innermost contains about 20, the second 24, the third 48, the fourth 96: the other rows are too closely set and too numerous to be distinguished. Probably the whole number of tentacles in a full grown specimen may be considered as certainly not less than 500. The innermost row springs from the disk about midway between the lips and the margin; they occasionally stand erect, but more frequently arch outwards in elegant curves. When distended with water these are often an inch in length, and th of an inch in