ARE ANEMONES OVIPAROUS? 147 



is a problem for the physiologist. He will probably 

 see in it the effect of endosmosis, by which all the 

 fluids in the tissue of the Actinia are suddenly so 

 diluted as to be rendered unfit for the vital processes. 



The Anemone has little more than beauty to recom- 

 mend it ; the indications of intelligence being of by 

 no means a powerful order. What then ? Is beauty 

 nothing ? Beauty is the subtle charm which draws us 

 from the side of the enlightened Miss Grosser to that 

 of the lovely though " quite unintellectual " Caroline, 

 whose conversation is not of a brilliant kind ; whereas 

 Miss Grosser has read a whole En cyclopaedia, and is so 

 obliging as to retail many pages of it freely in her con- 

 versation. 



Besides, if the monotony of the Anemone wearies you, 

 there is always this variety in reserve : you can eat 

 it ! The Italians do ; they boil it in sea water with 

 great satisfaction. Thus boiled, it has "a shivering 

 texture, somewhat like calf s-foot jeUy ; the smell is 

 somewhat like that of a warm crab or lobster,'' and it 

 is eaten with savoury sauce. Mr Gosse describes his 

 frying them in butter, if I remember rightly ; and 

 although he felt a little difficulty in swallowing the 

 first mouthfid — probably remorse, and zoological ten- 

 derness, gave him what the Italians call a " knot in the 

 throat " — yet, having vanquished his scruples, he ate 

 with some relish. Lady Jane is "horrified'' at the 

 idea of eating her pets ; but now that horse-flesh is 

 publicly sold in the markets of Vienna and other 

 German towns, and public banquets of hij^pophagists 



