A ROVING ' MESS.' 53 



to guess whether lie is likely to succeed in getting his 

 prize perfect and entire ; if not, let me beg of him not 

 to persevere, but immediately try some other place, 

 and hope for better fortune. 



Although apparently sedentary creatures, the Actiniae 

 often prove themselves to be capable of moving about 

 at will over any portion of their subaqueous domain. 

 Having selected a particular spot, they will ofttimes 

 remain stationary there many consecutive months. 

 A smooth anemone that had been domesticated for 

 a whole year in my aquarium thought fit to change 

 its station and adopt a roving life, but at last 

 ' settled down/ much to my surprise, upon a large 

 mussel suspended from the surface of the glass. 

 Across both valves of the mytilus the ' mess./ attached 

 by its fleshy disc, remained seated for a considerable 

 length of time. It was my opinion that the mussel 

 would eventually be sacrificed. Such, however, was 

 not the case, for on the zoophyte again starting off 

 on a new journey, the mollusc showed no palpable 

 signs of having suffered from the confinement to 

 which it had so unceremoniously been subjected. 



The appearance of this anemone situated several 

 inches from the base of the vessel, branching out 

 from such an unusual resting-place, and being swayed 

 to and fro, as it frequently was, by the contact of a 

 passing fish, afforded a most pleasing sight to my 

 eye. Indeed, it was considered for a while one of 

 the ' lions ' of the tank, and often became an object 



