SEA-ANEMONES. 79 



described. It is subject to great variation of colour and mark- 

 ings ; that which we have described and figured is perhaps 

 the most plentiful form, but by no means the most beautiful. 



There is a pretty little species called the Globehorn (Cory- 

 nactis viridis], to be found by the observant eye, growing in 

 patches on the under surface of overhanging rocks near to 

 low-water, on our south-western coasts. It is seldom a quarter 

 of an inch in stature, and its breadth is a little more ; but they 

 are always close together in colonies of from twenty to fifty indi- 

 viduals. It is very variable in colour, but as a rule the mem- 

 bers of one colony will resemble each other very closely in 

 this as in other respects. The peculiarity which separates it 

 from the several species we have been describing, is in the form 

 of the tentacles. These, instead of being more or less conical, 

 and ending in a point, consist of globular heads set on stalks 

 from which circumstance the popular name Globehorn is 

 derived. The column is of even breadth throughout, the base 

 slightly broader, transparent, but coloured white, grey, yellow, 

 green, brown, crimson, or scarlet. Probably the most common 

 form is that which has the column and disk of emerald green. 

 The footstalks of its tentacles are colourless and transparent, 

 but studded with rich brown warts, whilst their heads are rich 

 crimson. The thick-lipped mouth is bright-green. 



At low-water we shall probably come upon a rock upon 

 which is a group of dumpy masses of clear white jelly. Care- 

 fully remove some of these to your collecting bottles, and in 

 the evening, when they have had time to recover from the 

 shock, they will astonish you. The squat jelly-lump erects 

 itself into a shapely alabaster column, a couple of inches high, 

 and near the top a rounded parapet, above which the lobes of 

 the crown will spread out, densely clothed with feathery 

 tentacles. It is well named the Plumose Anemone (Metri- 

 dium sent Us). 



In the straightriess and tallness of its column, the Plumose 

 Anemone is suggestive of a deep-water species that you may 



