ERRORS ABOUT ANEMONES. 123 



of the simpler animals. For several years the writings 

 of zoologists have given a place to observations on the 

 Anemones ; but the observations have been incomplete, 

 and all handbooks and treatises vp'hich repeat these 

 observations are very naturally crowded with errors. 

 To give the reader an idea of the state of ciuTent opin- 

 ion on this one topic, it is enough to mention that in 

 one admirable handbook, the second page, devoted to 

 a description of the habits of the Anemone, contains 

 six distinct errors : yet this is no fault of the compiler ; 

 he states what preceding writers state, and his excellent 

 summary of what is known bears the date of 1855. 

 If the habits have been so imperfectly observed, you 

 may gaiess what a chaos the anatomy and physiology of 

 this animal present. Such being the state of the case, 

 we may hope that the wide diffusion of a taste for 

 vivaria will in a little while furnish Science with ample 

 material ; and meanwhile, as many of my readers are 

 possessors of vivaria, actual or potential, and will cer- 

 tainly not content themselves with blank wonderment, 

 but will do their utmost to rightly understand the 

 Anemones, even if they make no wider incursions on 

 the domains of the zoologist, they will perhaps be in- 

 terested if I group together the residts of investiga- 

 tions, pursued at Ilfracombe and Tenby during the 

 summer of 1856, and, with less energy, because with 

 less prodigality of specimens, during the autumn and 

 winter at home ; adding thereto some corrections de- 

 rived during the spring and summer of 1857. In the 

 present state of knowledge, the independent observa- 



