OF SEA-ANEMONES. 45 



stomach (at e) in separate chambers,* which are 

 represented in another section at g. These chambers 

 communicate with one another by openings (as at/), 

 and with the tentacles, as shown at c. 



All this we can see with our naked eyes, especially 

 as the large anemones frequently swell themselves 

 out with water till they become perfectly transparent. 

 But there is one small piece of microscopic observa- 

 tion which it is quite necessary to record. In one 

 part or other of the body of every sea-anemone may 

 be seen a number of pointed, oval cells (shown at a, 

 Plate II., fig. 1), containing a thread or spike, which 

 can be hurled out from one extremity (as at b), but 

 is usually folded back within its case. These cells, 

 which I shall call "spike-cases'' (Mr. Gosse speaks 

 of them as "thread-capsules"), are found within the 

 blue beads of the common anemone, on the lining- 

 membrane of the ovaries in the " thick-skinned" and 

 the " gem," and within certain white threads which 

 the "daisy" and the "snowy" anemone send out 



* Since this was in type, my Mend Mr. G. H. Lewes has added, 

 if possible, to his scientific reputation by the important discovery of 

 the real ovaries of the Actinia. A short time ago he dissected an 

 anemone in my presence, and pointed out the ovaries lying in the 

 interceptal spaces, and completely hidden by the convoluted hands. 

 After which, to remove aU doubt, he placed a portion of the ovary 

 under the microscope, and showed me the unmistakeable ova lying 

 in it. Now, in the so-called ovaries, — that is, in the convoluted 

 bands, — no ova are to be found, whilst spike -cases are abundant, and 

 these latter ai'e entii-ely wanting in the real ovaries. This discovery- 

 leaves the function of the convoluted bands a problem to be solved. 



