Actius. Hence Actian Years, an era commencing from the battle of Actium, called the Era of Augustus.

Virgil intimates them to have been instituted by Æneas; from that passage En. III. v. 280.

Actaque Iliacis celeberrimus litora ludis.

En. iii. 250.

But this he only does by way of compliment to Augustus; attributing that to the hero from whom he descended, which was done by the emperor himself; as is observed by Servius.in zoology, a genus belonging to the order of vermes mollusca. The body is oblong and smooth, attaching itself firmly by its basis to rocks or other solid substances, having a dilatable apex hooked within. The mouth is furnished with crooked teeth, the rostrum cylindrical and radiated. There are five species, some of which make a beautiful appearance, and are called Animal Flowers, Sea Anemones, and Urtica Marina. See Animal Flower.

Progressive motion in these creatures is so slow, that it is difficult to perceive any, as they scarce advance the length of one inch in an hour. It would seem they do not all produce, when handled, the painful sensation which had acquired them the name of sea-nettles.—They are viviparous, feed on shell fish, open their mouth more or less according to the size of the prey they have to deal with, and then reject the shell through the same aperture. When the mouth is open, all the tentacles of the actinia may be seen, resembling in that situation a full-blown flower, which has given it the denomination of the flower fish.