124 THE SEA-SHORE 



bead-like objects of the most beautiful turquoise 

 blue. For this reason the smooth anemone is 

 sometimes known as the " beadlet." 



You can easily keep these anemones in captivity, 

 for they are very hardy, and are no trouble at 

 all to feed. Indeed, they will go without any 

 food at all for three or four months together, 

 and seem all the better for their long fast. But 

 if you put a tiny dead crab, or a shrimp, or a 

 sandhopper, into the midst of their spreading 

 arms, you will see the tentacles close round it, 

 and push it down into the mouth, which lies 

 just in the very middle. For about forty-eight 

 hours the animal will then remain closed up. 

 But as soon as it has digested its dinner out 

 will come the tentacles again, bringing with them 

 the empty shell of the victim. 



Every now and then, like other anemones, this 

 animal changes its skin, and when it leaves its 

 position on the side of a rock-pool and crawls 

 to a new one, it nearly always leaves a cast skin 

 behind it 



