ACTINIAEIA. 187 



the shell of a mussel, and disposed of a crab all to its hardest parts ; nor 

 was it slow to reject these hard parts, by turning its stomach inside 

 out, as one might turn out one's pocket, in order to empty it of its 

 contents. We have seen in Dr. Johnston's account of A. erassicornis 

 that when threatened with death by hunger, from having swallowed a 

 shell which separated it into two halves, at the end of eleven days it, 

 had opened a new mouth, provided with separate rows of tentacula. 

 The accident which, in ordinary animals, would have left it to perish 

 of hunger, became, in the sea anemone, the source of redoubled gas- 

 tronomical enjoyment. 



" The anemones," Fredol tells us, " are voracious, and full of energy ; 

 nothing escapes their gluttony; every creature which approaches 

 them is seized, engulfed, and devoured. Nevertheless, with all the 

 power of their mouth, their insatiable stomachs cannot retain the prey 

 they have swallowed. In certain circumstances it contrives to escape, 

 in others it is adroitly snatched away by some neighbouring marauder 

 more cunning and more active than the anemone. 



In PL. IV. are represented the principal species of Anemone usually 

 observed in the aquarium. Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A. sulcata, is surmised 

 by Johnson to be the young of A. effoeta (Linn.). It is also quoted as a 

 synonyme of Anthea cereus, from Drayton's stanza : 



" Anthea of the flowers, that hath a general charge, 

 And Syrinx of the weeds, that grow upon the marge." 



Fig. 4, Phymactis Sanctse Helena (Edw.) ; Fig. 5, A. Capensis 

 (Lesson) ; Fig. 6, A. Peruviana (Lesson) ; Fig. 7, A. Sanctte Cathe- 

 rine; Fig. 8, A. amethystina (Quoy); Fig. 9, Comactis viridis 

 (Milne Edwards). 



"It is sometimes observed in aquariums that a shrimp, which 

 has seen the prey devoured from a distance, will throw itself upon the 

 ravisher, and audaciously wrest the prey from him and devour it before 

 his eyes, to his great disappointment. Even when the savoury morsel 

 has been swallowed, the shrimp, by great exertions, succeeds in ex- 

 tracting it from the stomach. Seating itself upon the extended 

 disk of the anemone, with its small feet it prevents the approach of 

 the tentacles, at the same time that it inserts its claws into the 

 digestive cavity and seizes the food. In vain the anemone tries to 

 contract its gills and close its mouth. Sometimes the conflict between 



