P. H. Gosse described this beautiful little species in his British Sea Anemones and Corals, in 1860, from two specimens obtained from a pool at Petit Tor, near Torquay.

I recently collected two specimens at Zennor, some five miles along the coast south of St. Ives, Cornwall.

An examination of these proved that Gosse's examples were young and immature, as shown by the difference of size and number of tentacles.