THE SEA-ANEMONE. 61 



the stomach along the oral wall toward its border ; but as they 

 are not conspicuous, the general cavity of the body appears as 

 simple as that of Hydra. Eventually, however, these organs 

 broaden, and extending along the inner face of the cylindrical 

 body toward its base, produce the berths which I spoke of just 

 now when describing the adult. The period at which the young 

 are detached from the parent varies to a considerable extent, but 

 usually it occurs before the tentacles have more than doubled 

 their number. 



Sometimes several pieces of the base of an Anemone separate 

 from it before there is the least trace of tentacles to be seen, and 

 as in this case they do not at first show any signs of activity, 

 but on the contrary remain for a long time in a quiet state, they 

 have the same appearance as artificially separated pieces, and 

 like them seem to be undergoing a recuperative process, after the 

 shock of separation. On this account these voluntarily separated 

 pieces arise into perfect individuals, after being detached from 

 the original stock by what is called voluntary self-division. 



Occasionally an adult Anemone has been seen to divide itself 

 longitudinally into two equal parts; but this does not occur as 

 a rule except among compound Polyps, (Corals,) and in that case 

 there is not a complete separation of the resultant individuals, 

 but only the heads and stomachs are divided, whilst the general 

 cavity remains common to the two. 



Before proceeding any further I may as well anticipate what 

 you would soon observe, and that is, that there is no well-marked 

 difference between budding and self-division. This you may 

 have suspected from a comparison of the modes of budding and 

 self-division of the Anemone ; but in the example, which I will 

 now introduce, the two processes are undoubtedly carried on at 

 once in the same individual. 



In all Protozoa the process of self-division, as it is usually, but 

 mistakenly called, occurs as one of the normal methods of prop- 

 agating new individuals; and until of late years it was thought 

 to be the only one. In the works of the older authors these ani- 

 mals were described as simply cutting themselves in two by a 



