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74 ACTION ACTINIA ACTJ50N, in Greek mythology, a hunter, grandson of Cadmus, who, for the crime of watching Diana while bathing, was trans- formed into a stag, and devoured by his own hounds. ACTA ERUDITORUM (the transactions of the learned), the title of the first literary journal of Germany, founded in 1682 by Otto Mencke, professor in the university of Leipsic, and sev- eral associates, and published monthly in Latin. It remained in the hands of the Mencke family and preserved its reputation until, in 1754, it fell under the charge of Professor Bel, who man- aged it so negligently that it lost character and circulation. The calamities of the seven years' war also operated against it, and it languished till 1782, when the last volume appeared, which, however, only brought up the review to 1776. The whole collection is contained in 117 vols. 4to. In 1732 the title was changed to Nova Acta Eruditorum. The work having met the approbation of the critics of foreign countries, and its convenience being undenia- ble, a numerous race of imitators soon sprung up in France, Germany, and England. ACTA SAMTORIM, Acta Mirtyrnm, Martyroloev. The ancient church gave the name Acta Mar- tyrum, or " Acts of the Martyrs," to the records of the lives and sufferings of the martyrs which were kept for the edification of the faithful. The oldest acts extant are those referring to the death of St. Ignatius of Antioch (107). When to the lives of the martyrs those of other pious men were added, the collections re- ceived the name Acta Sanctorum, " Acts of the Saints." The deaths of pious men, and the cir- cumstances attending their death, being com- municated by the various Christian congrega- tions to each other, an alphabetical list was oc- casionally hung up in the churches to keep their names fresh in the recollection of the brethren. These lists grew into brief biogra- phies, and at length the institution of canoniza- tion and the dedication of particular days to the memory of the saints introduced their names and histories into the breviary and missal. The oldest collection of the acts of the martyrs was compiled by the church historian Eusebius in his two works De Martyribu* Paletina and Synagoge Martyriorum. Collections of the most important lives were made in the 6th cen- tury by Gregory of Tours, and in the 10th by Simeon Metaphrastes. A more critical treat- ment is found in the Sanctuarium of Boninus Mombritius, and particularly in Ruinart's Acta Martyrum Sincera (fol., Paris, 1689). By far the most celebrated collection of the lives of saints is that commenced by the Jesuit Bolland (died 1665), and still continued by a society of Jesuits, called Bollandists. In fact, this collection is so much more important than any other work of the kind, that in the history of literature it alone is understood by the name Acta Sanctorum. (See BOLLAND.) ACTIAN GAMES, in Roman antiquity, solemn games instituted by Augustus in memory of his victory over Mark Antony at Actium, 31 B. 0., held every fifth year, and celebrated in honor of Apollo, surnamed Actius. ACTINIA (Gr. a/cr/f, ray), a genus of marine radiated animals, commonly called sea anem- ones, from their resemblance to flowers. They are fleshy polyps, termed zoanihoria by De Blainville, and zoopnyta helianthoidea by Dr. Johnston. The body is regular and some- what like a flower in form, more or less elon- gated and very contractile, enabling it to as- sume a great variety ot shapes. It has a sac- shaped digestive apparatus, with an oval ori- fice, surrounded by tubular tentacles of vari- ous forms. In many species the base of the body acts as a sucker, by means of which they adhere to rocks, stones, &c., while the opposite Metridlum margtnatum (Fringed Actinia), expanded. Metridium marginatum, closed. extremity presents a disk with a central ori- fice. This is surrounded by tentacles either in a single row or in several rows, which act as so many arms by which the animal seizes its prey and drags it into his mouth. Its only or- gan, the stomach, performs almost all the functions of animal life; this has, besides its opening from the mouth, one at the bottom communicating with the general cavity of the body, which may be shut at will, making a closed sac where digestion is rapidly perform- ed by means of active secretions. The lower cavity is divided by folds running from the cir- cumference toward the centre, from top to bottom of the animal, the food circulating freely among these partitions by the action of vibratory cilia on their walls. Digestion is