CHAPTER IX 



SEA ANEMONES 



HOW SEA ANEMONES ARE FORMED 



most beautiful of all the creatures which 

 live in the sea are undoubtedly the Sea 

 Anemones, which are just like living flowers of 

 all sorts of lovely colours. But I do not know 

 why they are called sea "anemones," for they 

 are much more like asters, or dahlias, or 

 chrysanthemums. 



These anemones are made in a very curious 

 way. You will notice, as you look down into 

 a rock-pool, that their soft fleshy arms, or 

 "tentacles," are all spread out like the petals 

 of a flower. If you touch them, however, 

 they at once come closing in and disappear, so 

 that in two or three moments the creatures 

 look like mere lumps of coloured jelly, But if 

 you wait for a little while they will push out 

 their tentacles again, and spread them just as 

 before. 



The fact is that the body of a sea anemone 

 is a kind of double bag. Suppose you take a 



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