SEA-ANEMONES. 127 



which remained for weeks fully and naturally ex- 

 panded; then, from some unknown cause, they 

 seemed suddenly to assume a sickly hue, their lips 

 became discoloured, and a thin, white, fibrous mem- 

 brane would issue from their mouth. The creature 

 would undergo an almost endless variety of metamor- 

 phoses, becoming at every stage weaker and weaker, 

 and finally losing its muscular power, get detached 

 from its resting-place, "so that the least agitation 

 would be sufficient to drive it elsewhere," without, I 

 believe, any power of again affixing itself when drifted 

 to another spot. It then very soon collapsed and 

 died ; at least I have observed in several instances 

 this to be the result. 



There is besides a fourth species that I must not 

 omit to mention, viz. the A ctinia coriacea. It is much 

 like the Crassicornis, but not so brightly coloured, 

 and is, moreover, tougher in its nature. Dr Lands- 

 borough thus writes of it : 



"It is about two inches in diameter at the base, 

 variously coloured, often reddish, blotched with green, 

 covered with many pale, perforated warts. The tenta- 

 cula are numerous in three or four series. It attaches 

 itself to sand-covered rocks, and is often pretty much 

 buried in sand, so as to be partly concealed when in 

 a contracted state. Its warts stand it in good stead ; 

 for they have the power of causing to adhere to them 

 sand and gravel, and fragments of shells, so that the 

 body is quite covered. This, it is probable, answers 

 a double purpose. By this covering the animal, 



