SEA-ANEMONES AND THEIR ALLIES. 



65 



Of the Scyphozoa the most interesting to most people are 

 undoubtedly the sea-anemones, with which we may con- 

 veniently begin. The anemones are almost always beautiful 

 and brightly coloured, they live well in captivity, they are 

 common and conspicuous; facts which easily explain their 

 popularity, even with persons who shrink from sea animals 

 in general as always slimy and possibly noxious. Their 

 popularity has been assisted by the fact that in Gosse's 

 British Sea-anemones and Corals we have a readily accessible 

 book which, from its wealth of illustration and clear 

 descriptions, enables the veriest neophyte to name his finds. 

 Unfortunately, the anemone-lover whose habitation chances 

 to be on the East Coast is not likely to find a great variety 

 of forms. While the rocky, wave-swept shores of Devon 

 and Cornwall are often veritable gardens of sea-flowers, our 

 sandy beaches produce a few species only, and these the 

 commonest and hardiest kinds. On the shore rocks of the 

 East Coast we cannot hope to find more than four species, 

 and among these we miss the beautiful Anthea cereus, which 

 at so many spots on the South and West flourishes in 

 gorgeous beauty between tide-marks. 



We may take first the most abundant and obvious of all 

 our native anemones, the smooth anemone (Actinia mesembry- 

 anthemum, Fig. 23), which can live everywhere and any- 

 where, asking only a firm basis of attachment, and a situation 

 between tide-marks. If you find a clear pool containing a 

 specimen in full expansion you may proceed to study the 

 general characters of sea-anemones. The general " polype " 

 shape is of course 

 obvious, the body con- 

 sisting of an attached 

 base, an upright 

 column, and a disc 

 bearing a central 

 mouth surrounded by 

 numerous tentacles. 

 Touch the tentacles 

 with your finger, and 

 you will find that 



they have a peculiar FIG. 23. Common smooth anemone (Ac'inia 

 Stickv feelino- dllP to mesembryanthemum). Note the beads at the 

 J o> " base of the tentacles. 



