THE SEA FINGER 129 



their edges, and looking rather like the lower 

 surface of a mushroom turned into stone. 



Madrepores feed on very tiny animals, such as 

 the fry of small fishes, and the zoeas of shrimps 

 and prawns. And they catch their victims by 

 means of a number of fleshy tentacles, which are 

 very much like those of the sea anemones, except 

 that they always have little round knobs at the 

 tips. These tentacles are set with numbers of 

 tiny cells containing slender poisoned darts, 

 just as those of the anemones are. 



If you want to find madrepores, you must look 

 for them among the rocks near the water's edge 

 when the tide is at its lowest. But they are not 

 very common, and on many parts of the coast 

 they are never found at all. 





PLATE XLIII 

 THE SEA FINGER (2) 



If you walk along the shore as the tide goes 

 out, you may often find a soft, pink, fleshy object 

 which has been thrown up by the waves. And 

 if you search among the pools at low-water, 

 you are nearly sure to see other soft, pink, fleshy 

 objects just like it growing upon their rocky sides, 

 or upon the stones and shells which lie at the 

 bottom. They are often known as "dead men's 



