CORAL BUILDERS. 229 



As to the senses they have a general sense of 

 feeling, and besides which, " some of them have a- 

 series of eyes, placed like a necklace around the body, 

 just outside the tentacles," yet they are not known to 

 have a proper nervous system. 



Reproduction takes place either by means of eggs 

 or by budding. Sometimes an animal divides itself 

 from above downwards, and becomes two individuals, 

 or fragments detached from the base will develop 

 themselves into young individuals, but gemmation, or 

 budding, is a common process, especially amongst 

 the coral-secreting species. " A protuberance begins 

 to rise," says Dana, " and soon shows a mouth, and 

 then becomes surrounded by tentacles ; and, thus 

 begun, the new anemone continues to grow, usually 

 until its tentacles have doubled their number, when 

 finally it separates from the parent, and becomes an 

 independent animal." 



The normal mode of reproduction is by generation. 

 The sexes are sometimes united in one individual, 

 and sometimes separate. The eggs, germs, or fully- 

 formed young, are discharged indifferently through the 

 mouth : in the latter case, the embryos have passed 

 their early stages in the general cavity. Dr. Spencer 

 Cobbold relates how he collected two specimens of 

 anemone one afternoon from the north shore of the 

 Frith of Forth : " On arriving at Edinburgh, the same 

 evening, the number in the vessel had increased to 



