74 GLAUCUS; OR, 
whip-like spines, and on the back of some of them 
is—what is it, but a live vulture’s head, snapping 
and snapping—what for ? 
Nay, reader, 1 am here to show you what can 
be seen: but as for telling you what can be known, 
much more what cannot, I decline; and refer you 
to Johnson’s “ Zoophytes,” wherein you will find 
that several species of polypes carry these same 
birds’ heads: but whether they be parts of the 
polype, and of what use they are, no man living 
knoweth. 
Next, what are the striped pears? They are 
sea-anemones, and of a species only lately well 
known, Sagartia viduata, the snake-locked ane- 
mone (Pl. V. Fig. 31). They have been washed off 
the loose stones to which they usually adhere by 
the pitiless roll of the ground-swell ; however, they 
are not so far gone, but that if you take one of 
them home, and put it in a jar of water, it will 
1 A few words on him, and on sea-anemones in general, may be 
found in Appendix II. But full details, accompanied with beautiful 
plates, may be found in Mr. Gosse’s work on British sea-anemones 
and madrepores, which ought to be in every seaside library. 
