134 HALF AN HOUR WITH SEA-ANEMONES. 



beads at the base of the tentacles. They are most 

 striking and beautiful ornaments, and the student 

 cannot fail to recognise this species by them alone. 

 The following is Mr. Gosse's glowing description of 

 this " common object of the seashore." " Some are 

 greengages, some Orleans plums, some magnum- 

 bonums, so various are their rich hues ; but look 

 beneath the water, and you see them not less 

 numerous, but of quite another guise. These are 

 all widely expanded, the tentacles are thrown out in 

 an arch over the circumference, leaving a broad flat 

 disk, just like a many-petalled flower of gorgeous 

 hues ; indeed we may fancy that here we see the 

 blossoms, and there a ripened fruit. Do not omit, 

 however, to notice the beads of pearly blue that stud 

 the margin all around, at the base of the over- 

 arching tentacles." 



The " Dahlia Wartlet Anemone " (Tealia crassi- 

 cornis, Fig. 69) is another very abundant British 

 species, and without doubt the largest and finest of 

 the group, some being found of the size of an 

 ordinary cheese-plate. Its name is well deserved, 

 for none of the anemones look more like a flower 

 than does this species when its tentacles are fully 

 expanded ; and of all flowers, it seems to resemble 

 that which has given to it its name the most. It is 

 abundant on every rocky coast, at or near the verge 

 of low water, and may be seen left dry, when 

 numbers of them huddle together, their stomachs 

 extended, forming most unsightly objects, which 



