570 SEA-ANEMONES. 



which is also shown in the oleograph, under the name of Plumose Anemone, is certainly the 

 most magnificent of the European species. 



It may be at once recognized by its bold cylindrical stem, firm and sturdy as the oak 

 trunk, standing out bravely from the object to which it is affixed, and crowned with its lovely 

 tufted tentacles, fringed and cut like the petals of the pink. Its color is extremely variable, 

 being snowy-white, olive, red, orange, cream, or pale pink ; and of all the varieties, the first 

 is, in my eyes, the most beautiful. It is capable of much alteration in its general form, 

 shrinking to a mere shapeless fleshy mass, and looking by no means a pleasing object ; 

 expanding itself to the fullest extent, or forming itself into many shapes, according to the 

 caprice of the moment. 



Fortunately for the owners of aquaria, the Plumose Anemone is hardy, and bears captivity 

 well. It often separates itself into several parts, each of which becomes an independent being, 

 and in some stages of this process looks as if two individuals had become fused together. 



THE pretty SNAKE-LOCKED ANEMONE, or WIDOW (Sagartia mduata), may be recognized 

 in the colored engraving of the Sea- Anemones, by the long, slender stem, and the flexible, 

 indistinctly-barred tentacles, with a dark line running down each side. 



It is found on many shores of northern Europe, seeming to be rather local, but tolerably 

 plentiful in the spots which it chooses for its residence. Though not adorned with brilliant 

 colors, it is a remarkably pretty species, with its crown of delicate tentacles waving " like a 

 thin blue cloud" upon the summit of its elongated stem. One of these Anemones has been 

 known to produce some curious changes in its tentacles, at one time thickening them into 

 knobs, and at another throwing out branches. 



A widely-spread Anemone, with a circlet of pearl-like beads at the base of its tentacles, is 

 well known under the name of BEADLET (Actinia mesembryanthemuiri). 



It is a singularly hardy species, living mostly on the rocks that lie between high and low- 

 water mark, and in some places collecting in extraordinary numbers. I remember on one 

 occasion, after meeting a party of unsuccessful anemone-hunters, I filled their baskets in a 

 quarter of an hour, though night had set in, and the only method of discovering the creatures 

 was by the touch. It is, perhaps, more variable in color than any of the European Actiniae, 

 the body taking all imaginable hues, passing from bright scarlet to leaf -green, graduating from 

 scarlet to crimson, from crimson to orange, from orange to yellow, and from yellow to green. 

 The spherical beads around its mouth are more persistent in color than any other parts of the 

 animal, being almost invariably a rich blue, just like a set of torquoises placed around the 

 disc. These, however, are occasionally subject to change, and lose all color, looking like 

 pearls rather than torquoises. Even the same individual is subject to change of color, being 

 evidently influenced by various external conditions, such as light and shade, food, and the 

 purity of the water in which it is placed. 



In the aquarium it is wonderfully prolific, surrounding itself with many a brood of tiny 

 young, whose minute forms are seen settled around their parent, opening their tentacles with 

 a kind of competent air that has something of the ludicrous about it. The Beadlet is some- 

 thing of a wanderer, and will not only crawl slowly over the glassy sides of the aquarium, but, 

 when it has reached the surface of the water, will invert itself so that the tentacles are down- 

 wards, make its base hollow, and float away, trusting itself freely to this shallow boat. 



The GEM-PIMPLET, or Warty -Anemone (Bunodes gemmacea), may be recognized by the 

 double series of large and small warty protuberances placed alternately on its body. There 

 are six white bands on the stem, and the tentacles are thick, marked with white, oval 

 spots. Like the preceding species, the Grem-Pimplet is not local, though gathering in con- 

 siderable numbers in certain favored spots. Even when closed, with all the tentacles 

 withdrawn, it may at once be known by the six bands of white which radiate from the 

 orifice, and the great resemblance which its body bears to an echinus stripped of its spines. 



THE Sea- Anemones are now (1885) embraced under the class II., ACTINOZOA, and the 

 Corals are included. 



