60 THE OCEAN. 



western shores of England and Ireland are particu- 

 larly rich in these lovely creatures. The most 

 common of all is the Beadlet {Actinia mesembryan- 

 ihemuni), which is found sticking to rocks between 

 high and low tide, by scores or hundreds. It varies 

 much in colour, but the most common tints are dark- 

 red or liver-brown, and olive-green. Wlren out of 

 M'ater, and closed, they are delicately smooth, and 

 have the appearance of some plumji, pulpy fruit ; but 

 when covered by the sea their tentacles expand, and 

 then these organs are seen to be sun-ounded by a 

 series of blue or white beads, like a string of pearls, 

 whence the name of Beadlet. 



Another species, almost equally abundant, but 

 much more likely to be overlooked, is the Dahlia 

 Wartlet {Tealia crassicorms). It is a good deal larger 

 than the former, and like it is very variable in colour. 

 The exterior is usually of a dull olive, or deep crim- 

 son, or apple green streaked with scarlet : the skin is 

 rough with warts, which have the power of attaching to 

 themselves bits of shell, gravel, &c., which they collect 

 in such quantities as to render them undistinguishable 

 from the beach ; and the concealment is the more 

 perfect from the fact that the animal generally chooses 

 for its residence the narrow angle between the foot of 

 some great mass of rock and the ground near low 

 water mark. Sometimes, however, this species is 

 seen congregated in groups of half-a-dozen or more 

 in a clear dark tide-pool ; and then the effect is most 

 gorgeous, for, as they are for the most part fully ex- 

 panded under such circumstances, their magnificent 

 great disks, generally of the richrtst scarlet, with thick 



