[30 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
of being horizontal be vertical, and the anemone, by a stroke of 
the knife, be split into two equal parts, in a few days the separated 
sides join together, and two perfect creatures are thus produced, 
in all respects similar to the unmutilated original, save that each 
is somewhat narrower. 
Trembley, by his experiments, rendered the fresh-water polypes 
celebrated, and the Abbé Dicquemare, by similar means, has 
brought the anemone into notoriety. He made numerous experi- 
ments upon these curious animals, both remarkable for the tenacity 
of their life and the brilliancy of their colours. He mutilated 
them in every manner. He always found the isolated fragments 
manfully bore the torture—if torture it were—of vivisection, and 
triumphantly existed through the violent operation. 
“Perhaps,” said this good abbé, “I may be accused of 
cruelty ; but from what I have seen from my experiments, I believe 
that the happiness of the creatures was increased : for not only did 
I augment the duration of their lives, but I renewed the term of 
their youth.” 
The anemones are excellent food! In Provence the red and 
the green actinia are held in great repute. In the time of Rondelet 
the A. crassicornis was sold at Bordeaux at a high price. The 
Abbé Dicquemare considers this last anemone the best for the 
table; when boiled in sea water it becomes firm and palatable, 
and it has an odour very like that of warm crab. The same 
author also assures us that the carnation anemone is very 
estimable. Plancus advises that they be cooked like oysters. 
The Lucernaria are closely allied to the anemones; they oniy 
differ in having a smoother skin, and their upper part is dilated 
like a parasol turned inside out. Their body is attached to a 
pedicle, their tentacles being joined in bunches; and four pro- 
minences, like horns, rise out of their digestive cavity, which con- 
tain a red, granular matter. They attach themselves to sea-weeds 
and other marine bodies. 
The Bell Lucernaria is probably the most beautiful of its 
species. It well may bear a flower’s name. The corolla is shaped 
like a bell, about an inch deep, of a uniform dark brown, and 
