431 



ORDER I. 



CARNOSI. 



The first order comprises flesliy animals that usually fix themselves 

 by their base, several of which, however, have the power of crawl- 

 ing- on that base, or even of detaching it altogether, and swim- 

 ming or suffering themselves to be carried away by the current. 

 Most commonly however they merely expand the oral aperture, 

 which is also the anus. It is surrounded with a greater or less num- 

 ber of tentacula, and opens into a stomach en cul-de-sac. Between 

 this internal sac and the external skin Ave find a tolerably complex, 

 but still obscure organization, chiefly consisting of fibrous and ver- 

 tical leaflets, to which the ovaries, that resemble tangled threads, are 

 attached. The intervals of these leaflets communicate with the in- 

 terior of the tentacula, and it appears that water penetrates into and 

 issues from them by small orifices in the circumference of the mouth; 

 the Actiniae, at least, sometimes ejaculate it in this manner*. 



Actinia, Lin. 



The fleshy body of these Polypi is frequently ornamented with bright 

 colours, and exhibits numerous tentacula placed round the mouth iii 

 several ranges, like the petals of a double flower, and hence their com- 

 mon name of Sea- Anemones. They are extremely sensible to the in- 

 fluence of the light, and expand or close in proportion to the fineness 

 of the day. When they retract their tentacula, the opening through 

 which those organs pass contracts and closes over them like the mouth 

 of a purse. 



Their power of reproduction is scarcely inferior to that of the Hydrae; 

 parts that have been amputated shoot out again, and the animal may 

 he multiplied by division. Their usual mode of generation is vivi- 

 parous. The little Actinife pass from the ovary into the stomach and 

 issue from the mouth. These Zoophytes, -when hungry, dilate their 

 mouth to a great extent. They devour all sorts of animals, especially 

 Crustacea, Sliell-fish, and small Fishes, which they capture with their 

 tentacula and soon digestf. 



KcTi^iK, proper. 



The true Actiniae fix themselves by a broad and flat base. 



The species most common on the coast of France are 



* See Spix, Ann. dii Mus., XIII, xxxiii, f. 1 — 5. 



t See Diqueinare, Journ. de Phys., 1776, June, p. 515, and the Memoir on the 

 Polypi and Actinia, by M. Rapp; Weimar, 1829, 4to. 



