CAN THE ANEMONES PARALYSE? 137 



back as if stung by a nettle. " I think, in the face of 

 testimony so precise as this, we may waive all negative 

 evidence, and accept the fact of stinging as proven * 



But now comes the question : Is this stinging produced 

 by poison- vesicles and spicula, as the great majority of 

 writers maintain ; or is it no more poisonous than the 

 pricking of a thorn ? Those who maintain the former 

 opinion, explain by it the alleged cases of paralysis ex- 

 hibited by the animals which have escaped in the 

 struggle ; and the incident just related of the beetle 

 killed, but not swallowed, seems entirely to favour such 

 a conclusion. Nevertheless, from subsequent investi- 

 gations, I am led to oppose the opinion in toto. Sir 

 John Dalyell — one of the best authorities — thinks that 

 the Anemone conquers its prey by mere strength, and 

 not by any poisonous fluid. He is somewhat exagger- 

 ated, however, in the statement of his opinion. " No- 

 thing," he says, " can escape their deadly touch. Every 

 animated being that comes in slightest contact is 

 instantly caught, retained, and mercilessly devoured." 

 This is mere rhetoric : animals, even such as form their 

 natural prey, constantly touch the tentacles — nay, are 

 even caught, and yet escape. "Neither strength nor size, 

 nor the resistance of the victim, can daunt the ravenous 

 captor. It will readily grasp an animal which, if en- 

 dowed with similar strength, advantage, and resolution, 

 could certainly rend its body asunder. It is in the 

 highest degree carnivorous. Thence do all the varieties 



* Aristotle, lib. iv. c. vi. 4, mentions their stinging, ovtws ^arc 



