METRIDIUM. V^ 



whole summit of the body seems crowned with soft, plumy fringes. 

 We would say for the benefit of collectors that these animals are 

 by no means difficult to find, and thrive well in confinement, 

 though it will not do to keep them in a small aquarium with 

 other specimens, because they soon render the water foul and 

 unfit for their companions. They should therefore be kept in 

 a separate glass jar or bowl, and under such circumstances will- 

 live for a long time with comparatively little care. 



They may be found in any small pools about the rocks which 

 are flooded by the tide at high water. Their favorite haunts, 

 however, where they occur in greatest quantity are more difficult 

 to reach ; but the curious in such matters will be well rewarded, 

 even at the risk of wet feet and a slippery scramble over rocks 

 covered with damp sea-weed, by a glimpse into their more crowded 

 abodes. Such a grotto is to be found on the rocks of East Point 

 at Nahant. It can only be reached at low tide, and then one is 

 obliged to creep on hands and knees to its entrance, in order to 

 see through its entire length ; but its whole interior is studded 

 with these animals, and as they are of various hues, pink, brown, 

 orange, purple, or pure white, the effect is like that of brightly 

 colored mosaics set in the roof and walls. When the sun strikes 

 through from the opposite extremity of this grotto, which is open 

 at both ends, lighting up its living mosaic work, and showing the 

 play of the soft fiinges wherever the animals are open, it would 

 be difficult to find any artificial grotto to compare with it in 

 beauty. There is another of the same kind on Saunders's Ledge, 

 formed by a large boulder resting on two rocky ledges, leaving a 

 little cave beneath, lined in the same way with variously colored 

 sea-anemones, so closely studded over its walls that the surface 

 of the rock is completely hidden. They are, however, to be found 

 in larger or smaller clusters, or scattered singly in any rocky fis- 

 sures, overhung by sea-weed, and accessible to the tide at high 

 water. 



The description of Polyp structure given above includes all the 

 general features of the sea-anemone ; but for the better explana- 

 tion of the figures, it may not be amiss to recapitulate tliem here 

 in their special application. The body of the sea-anemone may be 

 described as a circular, gelatinous bag, the bottom of which is flat 



2 



