SEA. ANEMONES. : bay 
ing from hunger, when—w7rabile dictu !—it opened at its other 
extremity a new mouth, provided with its proper row of tentacles; 
so the creature ate at both ends! An accident which to other 
animals would have ensured death, became in this sea anemone 
the source of redoubled enjoyment. 
The actinia can endure long fasts. It is necessary that this 
should be the case with organisms which are fixed and unable to go 
in search of food, and, consequently, may not have it at the right 
moment. When our terrestrial animals do not eat they become 
thin; atrophy sets in, and reduces them to one-tenth of their size: 
but when plenty returns they fatten quickly, and soon become what 
they were. But an anemone can live two or three years without 
food ! 
The sea anemones have the most obtuse sense; they are not 
conscious of the prey which is close to them until it is actually 
in contact with their tentacles; they make no effort to escape from 
danger. Strange to say, if the very water which covers them 
evaporates, they have no idea of approaching neighbouring water, 
although they can touch it with their arms. However, as we have 
seen, impelled by instinct, they can then detach themselves from 
the rock, and allow the waves to carry them out into deeper 
water. The Abbé Dicquemare thinks that they feel variations in 
the temperature ; and some naturalists assert that they ascend or 
descend in their localities according to the prevailing wind. 
The actinie live for many years domesticated. A red anemone 
(Actinia mesembrianthemum) was kept by Sir John Dalyell for 
twenty years, and it was supposed to have been ten years old when 
he took it from the sea. Another he had for fourteen years. At 
the time their longevity was spoken of, these two patriarchs were 
full of life and vigour, and seemed as though they would live for 
many years longer. 
At certain periods, germs and embryos may be seen in the ten- 
tacles of the anemones, the first stationary, the second moving. The 
best way of examining them is to cut off the tentacles with a 
sharp knife. Sir J. Dalyell, having thus operated upon a red 
anemone, at the end of October two corpuscles fell off; the first 
remained motionless, but the other had a kind of double rotatory 
