SENSITIVE BEAUTIES. 139 



The tmtton, indeed, of some varieties of this Anemone have no 

 slight resemblance to the bud of a large flower ; though one of 

 them, the pretty Strawberry Anemone, derives its inviting alias 

 from its fancied resemblance in this contracted form to that most 

 luscious of summer fruits. 



The rapidity with which many of the Anemones contract on 

 being disturbed is very great, and has the effect in some situations 

 of instantly withdrawing the animals altogether from view. You 

 are searching along the shore, we will suppose, at low water, 

 and, glancing into a little tide-pool at your feet, you see a 

 beautiful star-like flower spread out at the bottom. You stoop 

 to admire it ; and, eager to secure the prize, you reach out 

 your hand ; but before it has well touched the water, the beauty 

 has vanished out of sight, sinking, as if by magic, down beneath 

 the sand or shingle. The truth is, the animal was attached tc 

 the rocky floor of the pool, and had to stretch itself up through the 

 sand at the bottom to reach the surface where you saw it dis- 

 played abroad ; the moment, therefore, that it contracted itself, 

 it sank out of sight ; and had you searched for it at the bottom 

 you would have felt nothing but a little fleshy mass that un- 

 practised fingers would never recognize as the charming Ane- 

 mone of a moment before. 



Several of the Anemones are in the habit of burying them- 

 selves in the sand in this fashion, not only when at large in their 

 native elements, but also in the Aquarium. This is especially 

 the case with the pretty Cave-dwelling Anemone (Sagartia tro- 

 glodytes) and the huge Thick-horned Anemone (Tealia crassi- 

 cornis), which seem to delight in situations where they can attach 

 themselves at the bottom of a layer of sand, beneath which they 

 can readily shrink out of sight when occasion requires. We 

 have now in our possession five distinct varieties of the Trog 

 (diminutive for troglodytes), which have been attached to the 

 bottom of a vase, beneath a layer of sand nearly three inches 

 thick, for more than twelve months, and without budging a 

 hair's breadth from the spot where they were first placed. The 

 stationary habit of this Anemone may be turned, indeed, to 

 good account by the Aquarium-keeper; for as they readily 

 attach themselves where they are placed, and are very variable 

 in colour, you may regularly " plant" them in your Aquarium, 

 and with the same regard to harmony or contrast of colour, as 



