OF SEA-ANEMONES. 21 



If SO, he is a coral ; and we pass on. 



But is liis body fleshy and covered with a skin 

 harder than the rest of him ? 



If so, then he is not a coral, and we ask a few more 

 questions about him : — 



1. Are these single polyps found to be united, not 

 on a common stem, but by a thin band of flesh at 

 their base, something like the runners of strawberry 

 plants ? 



If so he is a Zo-antlius (" live flower"), for a plate 

 of which I may refer you to Mr. Gosse's new work 

 on Marine Zoology. 



2. Are these polyps entirely single, not joined in 

 any way ? 



Ifso— 



Are his tentacles (long feelers or arms surrounding 

 his mouth) in tufts, like patches of mignonette round 

 a flower-bed, or in circles without any break in 

 them ? 



If the former be the case, the specimen is a Lucer- 

 naria, and liicerna means " a lamp," and therefore 

 the name is (as usual) descriptive of these tentacV" 

 hanging round the creature, like lights in a clu.n- 

 delier. 



If his tentacles are in regular circles, he belongs 

 to the "family" of the Actlnoids, or "sun-beams" — 

 a name which forcibl}^ recals the animal when you 

 took him out of the cool depths of his rock-pool, 



