222 TOILERS IN THE SEA. 



extension of the lips, and the contraction of the disk. 

 In some species the tentacles are too short and thick 

 to be of much service for prehension. When the 

 food is digested, or as much of it as is capable of 

 digestion, the refuse is expelled from the mouth, 

 which is the only orifice of ingress and egress. 1 

 " When morsels of food," says Gosse, " such as frag- 

 ments of butcher's meat, are swallowed by Anemones, 

 they are retained for some hours and then vomited ; 

 and, because little change has passed upon the solid 

 parts, it has been rashly concluded that no process 

 of digestion takes place in these animals. On this 

 foolish hypothesis it is difficult to see why food 

 should be swallowed at all, or what need the animal 

 has of mouth or stomach. Their ordinary food, how- 

 ever, is not mammalian muscle, but far softer and 

 more fluid flesh. Nothing is more common than to 

 find large specimens of Actiniae discharge soon after 

 their capture, the shell of a crab or limpet from 

 which the entire flesh has been removed, and replaced 

 by a tenacious glaire. No doubt the first part of the 

 process consists largely of maceration, and. continued 

 pressure, by means of which the juices of the food 

 are extracted." Without entering further upon the 



1 All the details of structure and economy of these animals 

 will be found in the Introductory Chapter to " A History of 

 Sea- Anemones," by P. H. Gosse, London, 1860. 



