23 



(Actinia mescmbryanthemuiri), may be taken as a familiar 

 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 described by 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." SOUTIIEY. 



Though found attached to the rocks, they are not fixed 

 there permanently, but can shift their place at pleasure. 

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

 sea- water, are said to have both the smell and taste of Lobster. 

 They live upon small aquatic animals of every kind, including 

 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 obser- 

 vation of the naturalist. Sir John G. Daly ell, of Edinburgh, 

 has had one living under his roof for a period of seventeen 

 years, t They are said to exhibit, under such circumstances, 

 great sensibility to 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 manifes- 

 tations which indicate high winds and agitated waters, fair 

 weather and a calm sea, and their intermediate states. Per- 

 haps, however, no circumstance connected with these animals 



* The word literally means "a ray." 



f This was in August, 1845 ; in 1848 it was still living and vigorous. 



j Dicquemare quoted in Johnston's Zoophytes, page 225. 



