DICQUEMAUE'S EXPERIMENTS. 159 



once snapped up by the arms. They drew it to the 

 mouth, which lengthened itself out to catch it, and 

 swallowed it down. But as the body was wanting 

 that ought to have received it, the bit came out at 

 the opposite end, just as a man's head, being cut off, 

 would let out at the neck the morsel swallowed by 

 the mouth. I still keep this part of the Anemone, 

 which daily grows stronger and stronger. 



In May 1772 I clipped off all the limbs (tentacles) 

 of a purple Anemone. Soon after, these limbs began 

 to bud out again. On the 30th of July they were 

 clipped a second time, and grew again in less than a 

 month. Having cut them a third time, they had a 

 third shooting out. 



Some people may be inclined, says Dicquemare, to 

 accuse me of cruelty towards these creatures; but 

 I think that, on taking into the account the results 

 of my experiments, the animals ought rather to con- 

 gratulate each other upon having been the subjects of 

 them ; for, not only have I succeeded in extending the 

 duration of their lives, but have made them young 

 again into the bargain, "ce qui n'est pas un petit 

 avantage." 



The propagation of the Actiniae is not less remark- 

 able than that of many of the preceding tribes of Zoo- 

 phytes. We select, for the purpose of elucidating this 

 part of their history, the Actinia mesembryanthemum, 

 the subject of the observations of Sir John Dalyell, 

 to whom science is indebted for pretty nearly all that 

 is known concerning this portion of their economy. 



The Actinia mesembryanthemum is always disposed 

 to fix itself to the sides of its vessel, preserving the 



