490 REPRODUCTION OF SEA-ANEMONE. 



to a pulp ; nevertheless they appeared in a few weeks from the 

 very same places." The Actiniae have not only the power of 

 repairing injuries of this description, but seem to resist the effects 

 of other agents in a very remarkable manner. They are not 

 killed by being frozen in a mass of ice, but return to activity 

 when thawed ; and they withstand the action of water heated to 

 140. They may be placed with impunity in the exhausted 

 receiver of an air-pump ; and yet their life is destroyed in a few 

 minutes by immersion in fresh water. 



1133. We do not find in the Actinias, anything exactly resem- 

 bling the reproduction by buds, which is so remarkable in the 

 Hydra. The spontaneous division of the body just alluded to, 

 which is said to take place occasionally, not into two parts onlj, 

 but into several constitutes an approach to it. The special t 

 reproductive apparatus, by which distinct germs are formed, is 

 here very highly developed ; consisting of numerous very com- 

 plicated membranous bands enclosed within the chambers already 

 described ( 1125) as surrounding the stomach. The germs are 

 said sometimes to escape by the tentacular orifices, but it seems 

 more probable that they pass into the stomach through an orifice 

 at its bottom, and are then cast forth by the mouth. They are 

 sometimes extruded in the state of simple gemmules furnished 

 with cilia, like those of other Polypes. Sometimes, however, 

 they are retained for a longer period, and their development goes 

 on within the body of the parent, so that when liberated they 

 already present something of the form of the adult animal, 

 having a mouth, stomach, and tentacula, the latter being at 

 first few, but gradually increasing in number. In the course of 

 six years, an Actinia, kept by Sir J. Dalyell, produced above 

 276 young. If all these had been preserved, and their progeny 

 reckoned, the amount would have been enormous. The young 

 are frequently disgorged along with the half-digested food ; 

 thirty-eight appearing thus, in various states of development, at 

 a, single litter. Monstrosities are not uncommon among the 

 young. One is mentioned by Sir J. D., which had two perfect 

 bodies springing from a single base. When one body was gorged 

 with food, the other continued ravenous. The process of respir- 



