Sept. 21, 1883.1 



♦ KNOWLEDGE - 



187 



is with many a mere prejudice. The proper rules for paren- 

 theses and the use of the dash, are, Use them when by 

 so doing you diminish distraction, Avoid them when their 

 use increases distraction. (I speak of diminishing and 

 increasing distraction ; for there is always some distractive 

 effect in written matter.) I use parentheses freely, and 

 some imagine that this results from over-quick writing, 

 matters being thrown in between parentheses as a sentence 

 runs on, which, had I written more slowly, would have 

 come into a separate sentence. This is not the case. On the 

 contrary, I am often at the pains to put within ]iarentheses 

 afterwards, matter which I had originally put by itself, 

 judging (wrongly sometimes, mayhap, but still always 

 after reflection) that the attention of the reader would be 

 less distracted if a part of my reasoning came in as a 

 passing thought, than if it were formulated separately 

 after the break of a full stop. The passage Vietween paren- 

 theses in the last sentence is a case in point : 1 wanted to 

 show that I did not claim to lie always right in opinions 

 formed about parenthetical passages; but I did not deem 

 it well to make such a remark separately after my sentence 

 was finished, so I threw it in where it was wanted and 

 where it would receive as much attention as it needed and 

 no more. 



With regard to colons and semicolons, I must say I 

 differ from Sir Edmund Beckett. If there are any two 

 "points" about whose use I never feel any doubt, the colon 

 and the semicolon are the two. Apart from the work of 

 the point-pepperer, who may have marred my intentions, I 

 may confidently say that in all I have written since I first 

 penned a line for publication — now just twenty years since 

 — there is not a single colon which I would willingly see 

 changed into a semicolon, or vice rersd. My own particular 

 rule on that head is simply that a colon only should be used 

 to separate complete sentences, which would be separated by 

 a full stop were it not that you wish to indicate some con- 

 nection between them, — as for instance that they both 

 relate to the same subject, that subject not being the 

 subject of the paragraph itself in which the colon-divided 

 double sentence appears. (See the last sentence in the 

 preceding paragraph, and also the last sentence in the 

 next. ) 



The writer in the Brighton Herald objects to my theory 

 that we should be economical of the comma ; for he says it 

 is wanted in long sentences though it may be spared in 

 shorter ones. He has not quite apprehended my argument. 

 It is precisely because the comma is so useful in long and 

 involved sentences that we should economise it. In a short 

 sentence we can throw in commas without fear of anything 

 but distraction to the reader : in long sentences if we use 

 the comma before it is wanted we are left without resource, 

 save the too cumbrous semicolon, when the time of real 

 ne(!d arrives. 



I may in conclusion mention what T think some of my 

 readers may be interested to learn. Twenty years ago, as 

 I have said, I began to write. I was moved by a strong 

 desire to give a clear and popular explanation of Doppler's 

 Theory of the Colours of Double Stars, liy which I had 

 been much interested. I found myself so hard to satisfy, 

 so far as forms of e.xpression were concerned, that to write 

 an article! of nine pages I took about two nionths, writing 

 sometimes only three or four lines a day. The article 

 appeared in the C'ornliiU Jfnffazine for December, 18G;). 

 Later (in 18C4) when I was writing my book on Saturn, I 

 still had so much difficulty in writing to my own satisfac- 

 tion, that I would retain in my mind the reasoning of a 

 whole chapter rather than begin the work of conuuitttng 

 it to paper. I remember that when some delay occurred 

 about the printing of the long and difficult cliapter on "The 



Great Inequality," I imagined the printers must have lost 

 the MS., and I wrote to tell them that I could replace 

 the chapter, if they told me of the loss in time, knowing 

 the whole of it by heart, — so laboured had been its produc- 

 tion. It may be noticed by those who possess the fir.st 

 edition that there is but one passage, from beginning to 

 end of the book, where any attempt is made at poetical 

 description. That is in the concluding paragraph of 

 Chapter III. ; and though my mind was overflowing with 

 thoughts of the beauties of the ringed planet, my pen 

 refused to transcribe more than six lines. I went to 

 school as a writer under a severe taskmaster — myself. 



SEA ANEMONES 



AT THE FISHERIES EXHIBITIOX. 



By Thomas Kimbee. 



IV.— THE DAISY. 



Actinia hellis (Ellis and Solander.) Actinia pedunculata (Pennant.) 



ACTINIA BELLIS in contour is very much like a daisy, 

 but bears no resemblance to one in colouring. This 

 anemone is highly valued by collectors, partly for its own 

 sake and also because it is not easily obtained in good con- 

 dition, on account of its habit of ensconcing itself in 

 crevices and holes. When, therefore, the difficulty of 

 capture has been overcome and a perfect specimen is 

 secured, it is very much esteemed. In addition to which, 

 when once settled in a tank or vase Daisy is almost in- 

 variably in full bloom, it is also very hardy and easily kept 

 in health. 



Fig 1. The liloom or Flower. — The general surface of 

 the disc is a horizontal plane, though in some instances it 

 is slightly concave. The ordinary appearance of this 

 anemone is fairly described as that of a saucer set upon a 

 slender pedestal. The edge of the calyx is usually circular 

 but sometimes it is frilled like a half-opened flower, and 

 then has the appearance of Iwing lobed. 



The tentacles, arranged in about six rows, are inclined 

 towards the centre or nearly erect in the inner row, 

 and are much longer tlian those in the other rows. 

 The total number of them in the six rows is estimated 

 at about TjOO, arranged as follows, beginning with the 

 innermost, 12-|- 12-f 2^^1-1- IS-|-9G-fJ88 = 4S0.^ Thegonidal 

 radii are frequently strongly marked, and in fine specimens 

 this marking is extended Ijy two tentacles, one on the side 

 opposite to the other, which are larger by one third than 

 any of the others, and not mottled like them, but of uni- 

 form colour, either cream-white or ochre. In some in- 



