36 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



On rocky shores in many places it is so abundant as to 

 carpet the bottom of pools and tapestry their sides. On 

 sunny shores its colour is usually a brilliant grass-green, 

 and the tentacles are tipped with purple. There is a drab 

 variety, usually occurring in shaded places. I have 

 followed authority in saying " variety," for I have had 

 green ones in aquaria which turned into the drab, so it 

 seems that the colour is according to environment. It is 

 a large anemone, the column often three inches each way, 

 and the long tentacles spreading six inches across. Some 

 writers have questioned its power of stinging. If the reader 

 will on the first opportunity touch one with, not the hard 

 skin of his hand, but say his wrist, he will be able to form 

 an opinion. The sting is much as that of the stinging 

 nettle of our roadsides, or perhaps a little less severe. 



In exposed rock pools, generally high up, and where there 

 is little or no vegetation, there will frequently be found the 

 " Gem anemone " (Bunodes gemmacea). It is a very 

 beautiful little thing, about an inch across the expanded 

 tentacles. Its colour is usually a cross-banding of very 

 delicate tints pale green, pink, and pearly white, some- 

 times narrow lines of scarlet coming in between. It well 

 deserves its name. 



The large Tealia crassicornis, or " Dahlia anemone " as it 

 is called, from its resemblance to that flower, is a common 

 species on most shores. It is the king of its tribe ; of large 

 size and gorgeous colouring it is far and away the most 

 striking of the living things of our seas. 



An ordinary specimen measures about five inches across 

 its extended tentacles, but I have had specimens eight 

 inches across, the size of an ordinary tea-plate. Its ten- 

 tacles are short and stout (Crassicornis, thick-horn), and 

 they are gracefully tapered. In coloration it is greatly 

 varied ; some specimens are uniform crimson deep and 

 brilliant ; others have a crimson disc and snow-white 



