THE TAKASITIC ANEMONE. 
117 
never found on this Crab, nor on Pinna ingens, but fre- 
quently on Pecten maximns, as well as on Buccinum xm- 
datuni, and on stones.* I do not remember myself to have 
ever seen it on a bivalve. 
We have no species of Sea- Anemone which, to such an 
extent as this, shoots forth those filaments which I have 
called acontia, and which are undoubted weapons of offence. 
On being rudely handled, or otherwise alarmed, from vari- 
ous points of the body, particularly from the larger warts, 
the loop-holes {cinclides) give issue to these threads, which 
exactly resemble in appearance white sewing-cotton. They 
arc often shot forth with force to the length of four or even 
six inches ; and under circumstances of great irritation an 
immense bundle of such threads is projected from the mouth. 
Their interior end remains, however, attached to the cavity 
wdience they issued, and they are soon withdrawn again. 
JMost species of Anemones give out a rank penetrating 
odoiu*, but it is more than usually offensive in S. parasitica. 
It is communicated to the fingers on handling the animal ; 
and repeated washings with soap, and even scrubbings with 
a brush, scarcely avail to remove it. It is insufferably 
nauseous. 
S. parasitica, like its congeners, is by turns oviparous 
and viviparous. To the former mode of increase ]\Ir. G. 
H. Lewes bears witness. “ In the water of a pan con- 
taining, among other animals, specimens of Actinia para- 
sitica, I twice noticed abundance of light-purple ova floating 
at the surface. Some, of these were placed in a vase by 
themselves, and others left in the pan; but no further 
development took place. One day, dissecting a, parasitica, 
I found in its ovaries these very purple ova which had 
attracted my attention,”! 
]\Ir. Lewes doubts, however, that it is viviparous. This 
point has been settled by my friend, j\Ir. F. 11. West, “ A 
* Johnston, Br. Zoo25h. 228. f Sea-side Studies, 141. 
