88 THE SEA ANEMONE. 



and it has been observed, of examples kept in 

 vessels, that as the fluid in which they are confined 

 becomes deficient of air, and consequently less fitted 

 for the purpose of aquatic respiration, they fill 

 themselves with it almost till they burst, and re- 

 semble inflated bladders. This is evidently done 

 because it is only in a great volume of such fluid 

 that the quantity of air necessary for the support of 

 life, and which a much smaller volume of unex- 

 hausted water would supply, is now contained. 



In these respiratory compartments, the eggs are 

 arranged in clusters on a delicate convoluted mem- 

 brane ; and it appears, that on being detached from 

 it, they either pass, by means of a minute orifice, 

 into the bottom of the stomach, whence they escape, 

 or are transmitted through the arms. It is said by 

 some authorities that the eggs are hatched internally, 

 the young being extruded ; by others, that the eggs 

 are hatched after expulsion. There is, however, 

 much in the economy of these animals yet to be 

 investigated. 



The actinia has a power of reproduction equal to 

 that of the hydra. Any one may be divided, each 

 part becoming a perfect animal ; but when cut 

 asunder transversely, the basal portion is about 

 two months in gaining its rows of arms. 



Hughes, in his Natural History of Barbadoes, 

 describes some of them as found in a sub-marine 

 rock basin. " In the middle of it," he says, " there 

 is a fixed stone or rock, which is always under 



