THE CAVE-DWELLING ANEMONE. 103 



teristic marks of troglodytes, however, on disk and tentacles. 

 Column marked with longitudinal green bands on a pellucid 

 olive ground. Tentacles very short and conical, pellucid, 

 with three transverse white bars, and three longitudinal 

 streaks of fine grass-green, reaching from the middle to the 

 tip ; one frontal, broad, the others lateral, narrower. Disk 

 pellucid olive, with a white lip. This variety I enumerate 

 as X' Prasinopicta. 



All the varieties of this species are hardy in confinement, 

 and accommodate themselves readily to almost any kind 

 of bottom. Many observations (some of which have been 

 already mentioned) concur in showing its tenacity of life 

 under circumstances, such as long imprisonment in a box, 

 foul water, &c, that would prove fatal to other species. It 

 requires attention, however, in the aquarium, to preserve 

 it in condition. The more beautiful varieties, at least, 

 speedily degenerate both in size and colour, if they be not 

 frequently and regularly fed. They possess a healthy 

 appetite, and will greedily devour fragments of raw fish or 

 flesh, or of univalve or bivalve mollusca. Perhaps the best 

 food for all Anemones, and one that can generally be com- 

 manded, is the uncooked flesh of the oyster or the mussel. 

 It should be cut into small pieces, and guided gently to the 

 disk or tentacles of the Anemone, when fully expanded. If 

 the animal shrink from the food, and contract ; or if it be 

 allowed to lie on the disk ungrasped, it will be of little use 

 to allow it to remain: remove the fragment, and wait a 

 hungrier moment. 



If the food be gradually sucked in, its remains will be 

 disgorged in the course of a period varying from a few 

 hours to several days. Often it will appear little changed ; 

 but it has performed its part, and must be carefully removed, 

 or its decomposition will be likely to spoil the water, and 

 kill, or at least render sickly, the living tenants. The frag- 



