ACTINIAIXE. 367 



ingenious men have hitherto endeavoured in vain to furnish 

 us with. I should prefer the anemones of the first 

 group for this purpose, their sensation being very quick; 

 they are also easily procured, and may be kept without 

 nourishment. Five of them may be put in a glass vessel 

 four inches wide and as many in depth, in which they will 

 soon cleave to the angle formed by the sides and the 

 bottom. The water must be renewed every day ; and as 

 they do not require a great quantity of it, as much may 

 be fetched from the sea (if they be kept on land) as will 

 supply them for several days ; its settling some time will 

 only improve it. If the anemones be at any time shut or 

 contracted, I have reason to apprehend an approaching 

 storm; that is, high winds and an agitated sea. When 

 they are all shut, but not remarkably contracted, they 

 forbode a weather somewhat less boisterous, but still 

 attended with gales and a rough sea. If they appear in 

 the least open, or alternately and frequently opening and 

 closing, they indicate a mean state both of winds and 

 waves. When they are quite open, I expect tolerably fine 

 weather, and a smooth sea. And 

 lastly, when their bodies are con- 

 siderably extended, and their limbs 

 divergent, they surely prognosticate 

 fixed fair weather and a calm sea. 

 There are times when some of the 

 anemones are open, and others 

 shut ; the number must then be 

 consulted the question is decided 



by the majority. The anemones Fig . m ._ Actinia bellis , seen 

 used as barometers should not be from above, with us crown of 

 fed; for then the quantity of **^.W~!**i* 

 nourishment might influence their predictions. Anemones 

 of this and of the third group live and do well for several 

 years without taking any other food but what they find 

 disseminated in the sea- water; but should a respite of 

 some days be granted them, they might then be fed with 

 some pieces of mussels or soft fish, and thus restored to 

 their original vigour. Whenever the vessel is sullied by 

 the sediments of salts, slime, the first shoots of sea-plants, 

 &c., the animals may, on changing the water be cleansed, 



