122 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



experiment on it, according to the suggestion of the 

 moment. At once pet, ornament, and "subject for 

 dissection," the Sea-Anemone has a well-established 

 popularity in the British family-circle ; having the 

 advantage over the hippopotamus of being somewhat 

 less expensive, and less troublesome, to keep. Were 

 Sea-cows as plentiful as Anemones, one could not 

 make pets of them with the same comfort. There 

 would be objections to Potty in the drawing-room. 

 There would be embarrassments in the commissariat. 

 There would be insurgents among the domestics ; for 

 the best-tempered Jane might find it impossible to 

 endure the presence of such a pet, and might resolutely 

 refuse to bring up his water, and clean out his crib ; 

 whereas, although the red-armed Jane thinks you a 

 little cracked when you introduce "them worm things" 

 into your house, she keeps her opinions within the circle 

 of the kitchen, and consents to receive her wages with- 

 out a murmur. 



It is difficult to say what occasioned this sudden en- 

 thusiasm for Anemones : lovely, indeed, but by no 

 means the most lovely, and certainly not the most 

 interesting wonders of the deep. Mr Gosse by his 

 pleasant books, and Mr Mitchell by his tanks in the 

 Kegent's Park Zoological Gardens, have mainly contri- 

 buted to the diffusion of the enthusiasm ; and now that 

 enterprise has made a commercial branch of it, we may 

 consider the taste estabhshed, for at least some years. 



One good result of this diffusion will be an extension 

 of our knowledge, not only of these, but of many other 



