THE CCELENTERATES 141 



it will well repay anyone to make a study of these animals in 

 their natural haunts as well as in the aquarium. The gentle 

 swinging of the tentacles when searching for food, the capture and 

 disposal of the prey, the peculiar modes of locomotion, and the 

 development of the young, are among the chief points of interest. 

 As regards locomotion, the usual method of moving from place 

 to place is by an exceedingly slow gliding of the base or ' foot ' ; 

 and while some anemones are almost constantly on the move, 

 others hardly ever stir from the secluded niche in which they have 

 taken up their abode. 



Sometimes an anemone will detach itself from the rock, and 

 drag itself along, but very slowly, by means of its tentacles, some- 

 times inverting its body and walking on its head, as it were, and 

 though one may never have the opportunity of witnessing this 

 manreuvre on the shore, we have found it far from an uncommon 

 occurrence in the aquarium. 



The natural food of anemones consists of small crustaceans, 

 such as shrimps, and crabs, molluscs, small fishes, and in fact almost 

 every kind of animal diet, and there need never be any difficulty 

 in finding suitable viands for species kept in captivity. It is really 

 astonishing to see what large morsels they can dispose of with the 

 assistance of their extensile mouths and stomachs. It is not even 

 necessary, indeed, that the morsel be so small as to be entirely 

 enclosed by the walls of its digestive cavity, for the anemone will 

 digest one portion while the other remains projecting beyond its 

 mouth. Further, it will even attack bodies which it cannot 

 swallow at all, by protruding its stomach so as to partially 

 envelope them, and then digesting the portion enclosed. Indi- 

 gestible portions of its food, such as the shells of small molluscs, 

 are ejected through the mouth after the process of digestion has 

 been completed. 



We have already referred to the reproduction of sea anemones 

 by means of eggs, but it is interesting to note that they may also 

 increase by a division of the body into two or more parts, and that 

 this division may be either natural or artificial. 



If an anemone be cut into halves longitudinally, each half will 

 develop into a complete animal. If cut transversely, the upper 

 portion will almost always develop a new suctorial disc, and 

 produce a new individual complete in every respect ; and it has 

 been stated that the basal portion of the divided animal will also, 

 occasionally, produce a new disc and tentacles. 



