SEA-ANKlSrONES : TITKIR WEAPONS. 



411 



myself,* I ■will take the liberty of citing some of my 

 observations on the matter. 



"The emission of the acont'ia 

 is provided for by the existence 

 of special orifices, which I term 

 Cinclides. The integument of 

 the bod}^, in the SagarticB^ is 

 perforated by minute foramina, 

 having a resemblance in ap- 

 pearance to the spiracida of In- 

 sects. They occur in the inter- 

 septal spaces ; opening a com- 

 munication between these (and 

 therefore the general visceral 

 cavity) and the external water. 

 It follows that they are placed 

 in perpendicular rows, but I 

 have not been able to trace any 

 other regularity in their arrangement. So far as I have 

 seen, they are so scattered, tliat one, two, or even more 

 contiguous intersepts may be quite destitute of a cinclis. 

 I would not, however, attach too much weight to this 

 negative evidence, since the animal has the power of 

 closing them individually at will, and that so com- 

 pletely that the most careful scrutiny does not detect 

 their presence. 



Perhaps the best mode of examining them is to 

 put a small specimen of S. dianthus or S. hellis into 

 a narrow parallel-sided glass-cell, filled with sea-water. 

 After a while the animal will be much distended; 

 the exhaustion of the oxygen impelling the Anemone 



CINCLIDES. 



* In a mcmoiv- Entitled, " Researches on the Poison Apparatus in the 

 Actiniadse," read before the Roval Society, Feb. 4th, 1858. 



