TURBIS NEGLECTA. 63 



nities of watching its movements during several weeks 

 that she kept it in a glass of sea-water at Tenby, and 

 subsequently at Bath, whither it was conveyed in a 

 phial of the same, and lived three weeks after its ar- 

 rival ; we will therefore give the history of this " thing 

 of light and life" in her own words. ' ' One morning, 

 while pouring some sea- water into the vessel contain- 

 ing my Actiniae, I observed two small objects, which I 

 took for the young of those animals, and as quickly 

 as possible raised them in a spoon out of the basin 

 and placed them in a tumbler of clean sea-water. 

 They resembled tiny bell-glasses. Four transverse 

 rays were perceptible on their sides, and a minute 

 red body, with four white arms forming a cross, was 

 suspended in the water. Around the edge of the bell 

 or disc appeared a delicate white fringe, which was 

 lengthened or shortened at the pleasure of the ani- 

 mal. The contraction was sometimes so great as to 

 give the fringe the appearance of being knotted up 

 to the edge of the bell or disc. It was highly inter- 

 esting to watch their movements in the water as they 

 ascended from the bottom, the bell or disc contract- 

 ing and dilating alternately until the animal arrived 

 near the surface. This motion was particularly con- 

 spicuous at the edge of the disc, and the fringe or 

 tentacula lengthened as the animals rose towards the 

 top ; but when they descended again, the tentacula 

 shrank up, sometimes to a great degree ; after which 

 the little creatures sank gradually, and without any 

 visible effort. At the end of a fortnight one of my 

 pets turned itself inside outwards, and remained in 

 this state for some time, when it died, and left only 



