Sea-anemones. 



57 



They move from one place to anotlier very rarely and then very 

 slowly. If they are disturbed, they contract themselves into such small 

 masses, forcing out the sea-water they have taken up, that they are 

 almost unrecognisable. Their tenacity 

 of life is extraordinary and enables 

 them to be kept easily in aquaria. 

 In many cases one and the same indi- 

 vidual has been kept alive for years. 

 One is said to have lived for over 5(3 

 years in a small aquarium in Edin- 

 burgh, and to have brought forth thou- 

 sands of young ones during that time. 

 — Some Anemones <ire eaten l)y tlie 

 poorer classes of Naples. 



Of the numerous kinds of Ane- 

 mones many are ricldy coloured ; we 

 would mention especially the common 

 Anemonia sulcata (Fig. 160) which 

 grows in hundreds on the rocks , like 

 flowers in a bed. Finer even than this 

 is one Avhich has \\\) to the present 

 time oidy been found in the Bay of 

 Naples , the Alicia { Fig. Ill ). It 

 lives at great depths and, being of rare 



occurrence, is not always present in the Aquarium. When expanded, 

 i. e. when the body and tentacles are swollen out witli sea-water, this 

 species is probably one of tlie finest. Adamsia (Fig. 136) is interesting 

 an account of its habit of sharing the possession of some Avhelk- or other 

 shell with a hermit-crab, by which it allows itself to be carried about 

 (tank 23, see p. 72). On the slightest contact it draws in its tentacles. 

 The orange-red Cereaetis exhibits fine colouring (Fig. 51). Cerianthus 

 (Fig. 134) differs from the other Sea-anemones in not being fixed; it lives 

 in a loose covering which it makes deep in the sand, only a small portion 

 of its body projecting (tank 22). It is one of the largest Sea-anemones 

 and reaches a length of 8 inches. One specimen in the Aquarium lias 

 lived 11 years. 



Proceeding from the Actinia^ we can now more easily understand 

 the structure of the Corals. If the Anemones had the power to deposit 

 a calcareous covering on the outside of their body, or a similar skeleton 

 within their body-wall, these hard parts would, after the death of the 

 animal , be termed corals. The fine orange-coloured Coral, Astroides 

 (Fig. 52), which lives on the rocks of tank No. 9, may be considered 

 as an Anemone provided with such a calcareous framework. Spreading 

 out their rings of tentacles the numerous animals side by side present 

 the appearance of an orange-coloured carpet, but then their framework is 

 not visible. Only alter the orange-coloured animal has died and decayed 

 away, the remaining grey calcareous skeleton or framework becomes 

 visible; this can be seen in several parts of the tank, looking not unlike a 

 honeycomb. The coast of Italy is in many places covered with this coral. 



8 



