THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 73 



Actinia are easily procured, and kept alive a long 

 time in sea- water without difficulty ; in a glass 

 vessel their beauty is displayed to advantage, need- 

 ing only the precaution of supplying them with 

 pure sea-water every two or three days at most, 

 or they will throw off their skin in ragged pieces, 

 become discoloured, and die. They are capable of 

 very long fasts, although, as I observed before, vo- 

 racious enough when food is to be obtained. Dr. 

 Johnston tells us of a specimen of the A. gemmacea 

 once brought to him, " that might have been ori- 

 ginally two inches in diameter, and that had some- 

 how contrived to swallow a valve of Pecten maximus 

 (the great Scallop) of the size of an ordinary saucer. 

 The shell, fixed within the stomach, was so placed 

 as to divide it completely into two halves, so that 

 the body, stretched tensely over, had become thin 

 and flattened like a pancake. All communication 

 between the inferior portion of the stomach and 

 the mouth was of course prevented ; yet, instead 

 of emaciating, and dying of atrophy, the animal 

 had availed itself of what undoubtedly had been a 

 very untoward accident, to increase its enjoyments 

 and its chances of double fare. A new mouth, fur- 

 nished with two rows of numerous tentacula, was 

 opened upon what had been the base, and led to 

 the under stomach : the individual had indeed be- 

 come a sort of Siamese twin, but with greater inti- 

 macy and extent in its unions !"* 



Each of these animal flowers, except in the case 

 of such accidental monstrosities as the one just men- 



* Brit. Zooph. p. 224. 

 Li 



