SEA-ANEMONES. 119 



CHAPTER VIII. 



SEA-ANEMONES (Actinice). 



" Here, too, were living flowers, 

 Which, like a bud compacted, 

 Their purple heads contracted, 

 And now in open blossoms spread, 

 Stretch'd, like green anthers, many a seeking head." 



SOUTHEY. 



<( On descending in a diving-bell to the wreck of the ' Royal 

 George,' which foundered at Portsmouth, its deck was found 

 covered with sea mud, and with numerous groups of the Sea- 

 anemones, which, with their colours and extended arms, made 

 the whole surface resemble a pleasing flower-garden." 



THE sea can hardly exhibit, among all its countless 

 and wonderful occupants, any more marvellous and 

 interesting than the Living Flowers, or Sea-anemones. 

 These may be numbered by the thousand, clustering 

 around sea-side rocks and rocky po ols, " offering their 

 loveliness to every eye." While the simplicity and 

 elegance of their form excites the admiration of a 

 child, their extraordinary construction affords matter 



