242 HISTORY OP BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



"Meantime, with fuller reach, and stronger swell. 



Wave after wave advanced ; 

 Each following billow lifted the last foam 

 That trembled on the sand with rainbow hues ; 

 The living flower that rooted to the rock. 



Late from the thinner element, 

 Shrunk down within its purple stem to sleep. 



Now feels the water, and again 



Awakening, blossoms out 



All its green anther-neck." — Southey. 



* 



t Skin smooth. 



1. Actinia Mesembryanthemum. (Plate XIII. fig. 45, 

 frontispiece.^ 



Hab. On rocks, between tide-marks. Common. 



This is to be met with on all our shores, abounding often 

 in rock-pools. The older French writers call it " la pi as 

 petite des orties de mer," and yet it is not a very small sea- 

 nettle, being about an inch and a haK in diameter. It has 

 something, we have seen, of the stinging power. It is of a 

 liver-colour; the base is generally greenish, with an azure 

 line. Around the margin of the mouth, there is a circle of 

 twenty-five azure-blue tubercles, like so many turquoise 

 beads. On each side of the mouth there is a small purple 

 spot, "and the mouth itself is encircled witli a fringe of 

 numerous very short tentacula, of a pale or roseate colour. 



