CHISELLIXG ANEMONES. 21 



keep their base unlacerated. Not only have I cut off 



portions of them for microscopic examination, as you 



would cut buds off a tree, but, while I write this, there 



are several of the exquisite little Auroras and Venustas 



which have been cut or torn in half by the splitting of 



the stones on which they rested, and each half is as 



vigorous as if nothing had interfered with its integrity. 



In the course of some weeks no one will be able to 



trace in them that they have been wounded. The 



Abbe Dicquemare relates how he cut an Anemone in 



two, transversely : the upper portion at once expanded 



its tentacles, and began feeding ; in about two months 



tentacles began to grow from the cut extremity of the 



other portion, and thus he got two perfect Anemones 



in place of one. And yet these animals, so indifferent 



to wounds, rarely survive a slight laceration of their 



base. At least the Grcissicornis does not. I have not 



experimented in this way on the other kinds, and will 



limit my statement to the Crassicornis. This is the 



reason why a chisel is necessary; for the "Crass" 



clings to the rock with a \ngour which generally defies 



finger-nails — unlike the Anthea or the Mesemhryan- 



themum, which yield to a very light fingering. 



I have got my prize, but have so disturbed the 

 water that it is useless to remain longer by this pool. 

 There are plenty more. I poke and peer into them 

 without result, till at last a huge wall of stone rears 

 itself in my path ; and I suspect the other side is rent 

 with fissures, rugged with ledges of promise. It is so. 

 I squeeze into one of these fissures, where various- 



