lOi^ POPULAR HISTORY OP THE AQUARIUM. 



hollowed. It has numerous rather small tentacles^ which 

 are marked with cross brown bands. 



Such is the Anemone which loves to ride on the back 

 of a crustacean bearer. Although S. parasitica will some- 

 times fix himself on a stationary stone, br an empty shell, 

 he more generally chooses a Buccinum, inhabited by the 

 Pagurus Bernhardus or Hermit Crab, which blunders along 

 among stones, rocks, and seaweeds, with his double burden, 

 the uppermost of which does not seem daunted by the 

 dangers of his passage. The Anemone generally keeps his 

 disc expanded when he receives a concussion which would 

 make most of his brethren " hide their diminished heads." 

 No species throws out with more readiness than the ^;(2m- 

 sitica those long adhesive threads which are characteristic 

 of Sagartim. In his case they appear to be particularly 

 tenacious and offensive, and the author of tlie ' Aquarium * 

 relates an instance in which a single thread, although de- 

 tached from the Actinia, adhered to a little fish on which 

 it had been darted, so firmly, and appeared to cause so much 

 agony that it died. The thread was probably detached from 

 the Actinia by the fisVs action ; for, as a rule, the threads 

 are withdrawn through their pores, and remain coiled up 

 ready for use on the next occasion. 



