SEA ANEMONES. 123 
pulpy, more or less tough, and generally fixed by the base. The 
body or column is in the shape of a purse, flattened out into a disc 
at the summit, bearing many rows of tentacles, in the centre of 
which is the mouth. 
The dase of the anemone is generally a plain surface, by means 
of which the animal clings vigorously to foreign bodies. In some 
species it is found dilated, producing two semi-circular pinions ; in 
other species the opposite is the case, the co/mmz contracts until it 
is unable to serve its purpose, and the animal cannot adhere. The 
THE ANEMONE OF COUCH. THE CARNATION ANEMONE, 
column more generally contracts than expands; yet sometimes it 
lengthens itself, becoming cylindrical and like a stem ; in this state 
it is very lissom, and its surface is fluted. The dzsc varies in size. 
The dzextacles are hollow cones, arranged in concentric circles in 
many ranks ; they vary greatly in length as well as in shape; they 
are filiform or petaloid; they are inflated or flat; they are often 
pointed ; sometimes they are ciliated or fringed; and at other 
times branched, and in many species they are like white and 
semi-transparent worms. Charles Bonnet counted on one anemone 
150 tentacles, arrayed in three rows, from which jets of water 
were ejected at the will of the animal. The mouh is always 
large, with thick circular lips, Sometimes depressed, and sometimes 
