OF SEA- ANEMONES. 81 



There are several specimens of the usual descrip- 

 tion, dark gray discs of colour spotted and barred 

 with opaque white, and occasionally enlivened with 

 one solitary large tentacle of a rich chrome yellow. 

 Then there comes a variety of a rich uniform choco- 

 late, with an under colour of lurid crimson ; next to 

 him is a specimen of a delicate translucent white, 

 perfectly ethereal in his colouring and texture ; and 

 on the other side the " queen of the daisies," of the 

 palest, faintest amber, delicately lined with vivid 

 vermilion, reminding me of a volcano-fire about to 

 burst through a pavement of alabaster. In a dark 

 room all the "daisies" draw towards the light, 

 raising their bodies and becoming cup- or salver- 

 shaped. The "cave-dweller" and the "snake- 

 locked" anemone draw to the light in the same 

 manner, whilst the "common" and the "thick- 

 skinned" species are totally regardless of its in- 

 fluence. 



The "cave-dweller" is analogous to the bat and 

 the owl in its habits. During the day it is generally 

 torpid, retiring, if possible, beneath the shelter of a 

 stone, and collapsing into a pale pink or olive-gi'een 

 ball, but at night it wakes to life, elevates its body 

 into a columnar form and expands its disc and ten- 

 tacles. In Plate IL, fig. 3, a curious phenomenon is 

 represented, which I observed in the first individual 

 of the species which was discovered on the North 

 Devon coast. By the aid of a strong light and a 



