SEA-ANEMONES. 65 



the most imposing, if not the most beautiful, of all 

 the British sea-anemones, Tealia crassicornis. When 

 contracted, its body is usually of a rich crimson or 

 fine scarlet hue, often streaked irregularly with green, 

 like a ripe apple. Instead of being soft and glossy 

 like A . mesembryantliemum, it is hard and firm to the 

 feel, almost like leather, and its whole surface is rough 

 with numerous warts. It does not adhere to the ex- 

 posed sides of rocks, but hides itself in dark holes and 

 narrow fissures. Nor is it satisfied with this protec- 

 tion, but for further concealment it covers its body 

 with a coating of gravel. This it does by means of 

 its warts, which are the terminations of so many 

 tubes, and which act as suckers, each one firmly 

 attaching to itself a small pebble or fragment of 

 gravel. When the animal is dislodged from its for- 

 tress, an operation by no means easy, and deposited 

 in a capacious vessel of sea-water, it presently throws 

 off the gravel, bit by bit, and stands revealed in all 

 its beauty, as if it were aware that its usual artifice 

 would avail for its concealment no longer. Soon, 

 however, it assumes a new form and greater magni- 

 ficence. It expands a disk three inches in diameter, 

 fringed with many rows of thick conical tentacles. 

 These are of different colours in different individuals, 

 sometimes clear pellucid crimson, at others purple, 

 always surrounded with a broad ring of white. 

 Another variety of very charming appearance has the 

 tentacles entirely cream-white. The animal has the 

 habit of imbibing water, until all the tissues of the 



