ACTINIADiE : ACTINIiE. 237 



there is reason to fear a storm, high winds, and a troubled sea ; but 

 a fair and calm season is to be anticipated when they lie relaxed 

 with spread-out tentacula.* 



That the Actinife are viviparous is very commonly alleged, and 

 almost every naturalist who has paid attention to their habits may 

 be quoted as a witness of the escape of the young from the stomach 

 througli the oral aperture, f Some have maintained that these 



* Dicquemare's observations seem of sufficient interest to justify their insertion at 

 length. He says — " My very earliest observation showed that the sea anemonies 

 feel and prognosticate, within doors, the diifcrent changes of temperature in the 

 atmosphere. I had not leisure at that time to fonu tables of their various indica- 

 tions, but 1 have since done it. This fact, if applied to practice, might be of use in 

 the formation of a sea-barometer, an object of no small importance, which several 

 ingenious menjiave hitherto endeavoured in vain to furnish us with. I should 

 prefer the anemonies of the third species for this purpose, their sensation being 

 very quick ; they are also easily procured, and may be kept without nourishment. 

 Five of them may be put in a glass vessel, four inches wide and as many in depth, 

 in which they will soon cleave to the angle formed by the sides and the bottom. The 

 water must be renewed every day, and as they do not require a great quantity of it, 

 as much may be fetched from the sea (if they be kept on land) as will supply them 

 for several daj's ; its settling some time will only improve it. If the anemonies be 

 at any time shut or contracted, I have reason to apprehend an approaching storm — 

 that is, high winds and an agitated sea. When they are all shut but not remark- 

 ably contracted they forebode a weather somewhat less boisterous, but still attended 

 with gales and a rough sea. If they appear in the least open, or alternately and fre- 

 quently openmg and closing, they indicate a mean state both of winds and waves. 

 When they are quite open, I expect tolerable tine weather and a smooth sea. And 

 lastly, when their bodies are considerably extended, and their limbs divergent, they 

 surely prognosticate fixed fair weather and a calm sea. There are times when some 

 of the anemonies are open and others shut ; the number must then be consulted ; 

 the question is decided by the majority. The anemonies used as barometers should 

 not be fed, for then the quantity of nourishment might influence their predictions. 

 Anemonies of this and of the first species live and do well for several years without 

 taking any other food but what they find disseminated in the sea-water ; but should 

 a respite of some days be granted them, they might then be fed with some pieces of 

 muscles of soft fish, and thus restored to their original vigour. W^henever the vessel 

 is sullied by the sediments of salts, slime, the first shoots of sea-plants, &c., it may 

 on changing the water be cleansed by wiping it with a soft hair pencil, or even with 

 the finger, carefully avoiding to rub or press hard on the anemonies. Should any of 

 them drop off dinging this operation, they may be left at liberty, for they will soon 

 of their own accord fix themselves to some other place. Should any of them die, 

 which will soon be discovered by the milky colour of the water, and an offensive 

 smell on changing it, it must be taken out, and on the first opportunity another of the 

 same species be put in its place ; those of a moderate size are the most eligible." 

 Dicquemare in Phil. Trans, abridg. xiii. 642-3. 



t " Leur generation ordinaire est vivipare. Les petites actinies passent de I'ovaire 

 dans I'estomac et sortentparlabouche." Cuvier, Reg. Anim. iii. 291. 



