26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



of the ground it slips through the sac and is lost. The plan 

 that I ado]3t is to surround it with two or three spades, and 

 each to act at the same moment so as to undermine it in an 

 instant, and pressing the ground causes its escape to be more 

 difficult." 



I have not found the use of more than one spade necessary; I 

 think more would only increase the chance of giving the alarm, as 

 all that is required to make sure of the animal is to cut off its 

 means of retreat. To do this, it must be approached with the 

 greatest caution, and a spade or other such implement placed in 

 the gentlest manner 4 or 5 inches from the spot where it is, and 

 when all is ready, drive the spade suddenly in beneath it, cutting 

 off its escape by passing through the tube. If the animal takes 

 the alarm before the thrust is made, I should say, speaking from 

 my own experience, that it is almost hopeless to follow up the 

 pursuit. Whether this arises from the creature retreating to a 

 portion of the tube that had not been reached, or escaping through 

 it, as Mr Edwards thinks, I have been unable to determine. The 

 fine muddy sand closes in so quickly when dug under water, that 

 I have never satisfactorily ascertained whether the termination of 

 the tube (which is liable to sever at its lower end), had been 

 reached or not. Where they can be met with between tide 

 marks, as at Menai Strait, the question might be easily solved. I 

 am inclined to think, in the meantime, that the animal never 

 voluntarily leaves its own tube, as I doubt whether it could make 

 progress so as to escape pursuit, beyond the limits of its own 

 smooth cylinder. 



Little more need be said of the means of capture or their haunts; 

 the greater portion of our Anemones being met with within the 

 tidal belt, and few belonging exclusively to deep water. To 

 reach the latter, the use of the dredge is of course required. 

 Many valuable specimens are obtained from trawl refuse, and 

 others are brought up on the fisherman's long lines. A little 

 beyond low water, good captures are made over the side of the 

 row-boat from the fronds and stems of tangle, and under the 

 ledges of deep overhanging rocks. 



Mr Gosse in his "British Sea Anemones " gives a table of their 

 geographical distribution, and divides them into ten jjrovinces, 

 which, as he says, are somewhat arbitrarily defined, and "The 

 product of the divisions rather represent the state of our know- 



