OF SEA-ANEMONES. -^7 



(lots or tubercles, six or more of these lines being 

 very distinctly comjjosed of larger tubercles of an 

 opaque white colour. This is Actinia gemmacea, 

 ''the gem," or, in the vernacular, "buttons." He will 

 disclose about fifty snak}^, barred and spotted ten- 

 tacles, and his mouth is of a brilliant green, and 

 there are half-a-dozen other colours you will discover 

 in him when he is well opened to-morrow. This is 

 a treasure; it is common enough on the North 

 Devon coast, but almost peculiar to that locality. 



We turn over half-a-dozen other stones, with 

 perhaps little success, so far as anemones are con- 

 cerned, but we bag a few star-fish and a few com- 

 pound zoophj'tes. By the way, people are always 

 saying that every anemone is a zoophyte, which is 

 true, and consequently inferring that every zoophyte 

 is an anemone, which is not true. Every jackdaw^ 

 is a bird, — true; then every bird is a jackdaw, — 

 similarly not true. We have seen that the term 

 " polyp or true zoophyte" * includes a vast class of 

 animals, — Hydras, Sertularias, sea-fans, corals and 

 sea - anemones, — therefore every anemone is a 

 zoophyte, but every zoophyte is not an anemone. 



Excuse this digression, and over with another 

 stone. This one, you see, is full of holes, bored by 

 a little mollusc called the Pholas ; and there is a 

 little pink wart in one of the holes — chisel him out 



* Some "Zoophytes" (g. ^. ascidian) are referable to the Mol- 

 luscan kingdom. — Johnston. 



E 



