ZOOPHYTES. 23 



familiar example, and one which will illustrate some 

 of the most striking structural peculiarities of the 

 order. 



Viewed when the tide has receded, and the rocks are left 

 dry, the Actinias,* which adhere to them, appear as fleshy, 

 inert, hemispherical bodies, of an olive tinge, or of a liver- 

 coloured Vermillion, the tint being variable. But when the 

 advancing tide has again covered them, they are roused to 

 more active life, unfold their tentacula, and present the 

 appearance of expanded flowers, as describedby the poet: — 



" Meantime, with fuller reach and stronger swell, 

 Wave after wave advanced ; 

 Each following billow lifted the last foam 

 That trembled on the sand with rainbow hues ; 

 The living flower that, rooted to the rock, 

 Late from the thinner element 

 Shrunk down within its purple stem to sleep. 

 Now feels the water, and again 

 Awakening, blossoms out 

 All its green anther necks." — Southet. 



Though found attached to the rocks, they are not fized 

 there permanently, but can shift their place at pleasure. 

 Some species are used as food for man, and, when boiled in 

 sea-water, are saidtohaveboththesmellandtaste of Lobster. 

 They live upon small aquatic animals of every kind, includ- 

 ing Crustacea and shell-fish ; the hard and indigestible parts 

 being rejected by the mouth, about ten or twelve hours after 

 being swallowed. By the mouth, also, we have seen the 

 young Actinias expelled, as miniature representatives of 

 the parent, and furnished even then with minute tentacula. 

 By attention in changing the water and supplying the 

 necessary food, they can be kept alive for a considerable 

 period, under the observation of the naturalist. Sir John 

 G. Dalyell, of Edinburgh, has had one living under his 

 roof for a period of seventeen years, f They are said to 

 exhibit, under such circumstances, great sensibility of 

 atmospheric changes ; so much so, indeed, that a French 

 philosopher:!: asserts that they might be of use as sea- 

 barometers ; and he describes, in detail, the manifestations 

 which indicate high winds and agitated waters, fair weather 

 and a calm sea, and their intermediate states. Perhaps, 

 however, no circumstance connected with these animals 

 is more remarkable than their power of bearing mutilation. 



• The word literally means " a ray." 



t This was in Aug., 1845 ; in 1848 it was still li\-ing and vigorous. 



j Dicquemare — quoted in Johnston's Zoophytes, page 2'2o. 



