EXPERIMENTS ON HYDR^. 141 



who clutched, but soon released him. I then gave 

 him to another Grass, who swallowed him, but in a 

 little while slowly unclosed his tentacles and let him 

 escape ; being apparently of the Cyclopean opinion that 

 the capering antics would produce a gastric fever. Now, 

 it is quite possible that the Anemone, having clutched 

 the carcass of a dead crab washed on to its tentacles, 

 and having swallowed it, as it swallows most objects 

 once clutched, may retain the carcass in its stomach, 

 and quietly digest the flesh thereof, as far as digestion 

 is jDOSsible,'" yet be unwilling to retain the live crab 

 under similar circumstances, because of the incessant 

 struggles of the victim ; and I direct the attention 

 of students to the point, because if any one mtnesses 

 the capture and digestion, it will be enough to destroy 

 all negative evidence. 



On the question of food we may mthhold our opinion 

 till some more decisive evidence is adduced ; but on 

 the question of the paralysing power said to reside in 

 the tentacles, these experiments surely determine a 

 negative. In spite of the beetle, so completely van- 

 quished, there is the evidence of crabs and shrimps 

 being in repeated contact with the tentacles, and in 

 nowise afi'ected. 



While preparing these notes for the press, I have 

 been led to extend the experiments ; because, although 

 it would by no means necessarily follow that whatever 

 was true of the Hydroid Poljrpes must also be true of 



* In Part III., Chap. I., the reader will see that digestion, in the 

 strict sense of the word, is not possible. 



