250 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



stand it in good stead, for they have the power of causing 

 to adhere to them sand and gravel, and fragments of shells, 

 so that the body is quite covered. This, it is probable, 

 answers a double purpose. By tliis covering, the animal, 

 when left by the tide naked, is defended from the scorching 

 beams of the sun ; it answers nobly also the purpose of 

 concealment. That kind Providence which cares for the 

 inferior animals, furnishes various means of eluding their 

 enemies. The ptarmigan, which inhabits the lofty mountains, 

 gets white plumage when winter returns, so that even tlie 

 keen-eyed eagle can scarcely distinguish it from the snow- 

 clad peaks among which it dwells. "Were the alpine hare 

 to be white in summer, it would be too conspicuous when 

 skipping along the heath ; and it would be not less so in 

 winter, when all is white around, were its fur not to lose its 

 summer hue, and to become white as the mountain snow. 

 Nothing could be better fitted to conceal this Actinia, which 

 abounds on our shores, than this very covering with which 

 it knows so well how to clothe itself. AYhen the ebbing 

 tide leaves the sand-covered rocks dry, a sea-anemone of so 

 large size, even when contracted, would be very observable. 

 But when its tentacula are all retracted, and the warty skin 

 covered with the sand and shelly fragments that so firmly 



